


Our Own Villain

by IronWoman359



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2019-05-03 16:20:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14572842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IronWoman359/pseuds/IronWoman359
Summary: Roman’s room tends to reflect his emotions very strongly, but this is a part of himself he’s managed to keep secret from the others. That is until one night after a fight, Virgil ventures into his realm to try and apologize. When he doesn't return, Logan and Patton go in search of him, and quickly discover that something is very,verywrong.If they want to find Virgil, the logical and moral sides will have to work together to find out what's wrong with Roman's realm...and save not only Virgil, but Roman from the dangers that lie within.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prologue: 
> 
> Roman usually loved his room.
> 
> It was the one place where he always had full creative control; whatever he willed came to be before his very eyes. His biggest hopes, wildest dreams, and most incredible fantasies all blossomed into being at his command. Roman spent his daydream sessions riding through his fictional kingdom, coming up with new ideas, going on quests for the citizens, and slaying monsters.
> 
> It was even better when the other sides came to visit. Roman could conjure as many dogs and non-allergenic cats as Patton wanted, produce exact replicas of specimen for Logan to study, and create the perfect environment for Virgil to come and relax if he was ever on the verge of a panic attack. Yes, his room was incredible, and Roman absolutely loved it.
> 
> Usually.
> 
> Roman’s room was, unfortunately, not all sunshine and rainbows all the time. Like Patton, his room was heavily influenced by his emotions, but unlike Patton’s room, Roman’s physically changed depending on his mood. On good days, his kingdom was perfect; Roman could fully realize his creative ideas and create whatever he wished. But he had bad days too.
> 
> Days where his mind was plagued with sadness brought dark skies and dark thoughts, and the monsters grew darker, bolder, and more difficult to defeat. Ideas he had didn’t seem worth the effort, and often Roman would simply sit alone in an empty castle, staring at cold stone walls with tears gently rolling down his cheeks.
> 
> Days where he was creatively exhausted caused the color to drain from whatever he tried to create, and all the landscape could produce were docile monsters that didn’t put up any fight. Not that Roman himself was trying to slay them on those days.
> 
> And then…there were days he got angry.
> 
> Anger brought more vicious monsters, more frightening scenarios, and a terrifying side of himself that Roman hated, but was powerless to control. He just was thankful that his fellow sides had never seen his room (or himself) in that dark state. If the others ever saw him like that…no. Roman promised himself that it would never, _never _happen.__
> 
>  
> 
> _  
> _If only that was a promise he could keep.__  
> 

“Dinner time, kiddos!” 

Patton’s cheerful voice rang out through the commons as he dished out four helpings of his homemade chili. Logan looked up from the couch, then closed the book he had been reading and prodded Virgil, who was lying next to him with his headphones on and eyes closed. Virgil opened one eye blearily, then noticed the steaming bowels of chili on the dining room table and nodded, sitting up and sliding his headphones off, leaving them around his neck. The pair joined Patton at the table, who frowned as he scanned the room. 

“Guys? Where’s Roman?” 

“I haven’t seen him all day.” Virgil shrugged, stuffing his hands into his hoodie pockets. 

“I also have not seen Roman anywhere,” Logan said with a slight frown. “Perhaps he is still in his room?”

“Well, he’d better hurry up, or his dinner will get… _chili_ ,” Patton said, a twinkle in his eye. Logan rolled his eyes and Virgil smirked as Patton walked over to the stairs. 

“Romaaaaan?” he called up in a singsong voice. “Come on down kiddo, dinner’s ready!” 

The three sat in silence, waiting for the call of Roman’s booming voice or the sound of his footsteps bounding down the stairs, but they were met with only silence. 

“Roman?” Patton called again, a worried frown working its way onto his face. 

“Well, this is unusual,” Logan commented. 

“Couldn’t he just be on a quest or something?” Virgil asked, scratching the back of his neck. 

“Roman hardly ever misses dinner, even if he is off adventuring,” Logan countered. 

Patton’s face fell.  

“You don’t think he’s upset about…you know…” he trailed off, and the sides looked at each other uncomfortably. 

That morning, Roman had tried to pitch another big, outlandish idea. His creative suggestions had been more and more ludicrous lately, and it had taken all three of them plus Thomas to talk him down. After the rejection of his idea, Roman had stormed off, and they could hear the slam of his door all the way from the commons. 

“It is certainly possible that this morning’s events are the cause of his absence,” Logan said, pushing his glasses up. 

Patton frowned. 

“Maybe we owe him an apology. Something’s been kinda off with him lately, maybe we bruised his ego worse than we thought this morning.” Patton turned to Virgil, his eyes pleading. “Virge, could you go and ask him to come down? Tell him we’re sorry, and that we’ll make it up to him with a family movie night.”

“Why me?” Virgil asked, digging his hands deeper into his pockets.

“Well, you were…um…” Patton didn’t look at him as he tried to find his words.  

“Your comments to him this morning were the harshest out of everyone’s,” Logan supplied, forgoing tact.  

“Which is fine!” Patton said quickly, seeing Virgil’s face fall. “He needed to be reined in, you were just doing your job, Virgil. It just might mean a lot to Roman if you were the one to talk to him.” He smiled hopefully at Virgil, who sighed. 

“Fine. I’ll try.” 

Virgil headed upstairs and walked down the hallway that housed all their rooms, stopping in front of Roman’s door. He hesitated a moment, then knocked gently. 

“Roman?” he said tentatively. No response. He sighed, and crossed his arms.   
“C’mon man, it’s dinner time. Patton made chili, and he’s already used the pun about it getting cold, so…” He trailed off, unsure of how to finish his sentence. Why had Patton sent him to be the peacemaker? 

_He only ever made things worse._

Virgil frowned, and pushed the negative thought away. 

“Ro?” he asked again. “Look, I get it if you don’t wanna talk to me. But don’t be mad at the others, ok? We can talk about this…or we can just have a Disney marathon and forget it all, ok? You can even pick the movies.” 

Still no response from behind the door. Giving Roman free reign of movie choice was usually enough to cheer him up, why wasn’t he answering? Worry began to creep at the edge of Virgil’s mind, but he did his best to ignore it. He was probably just being paranoid, as usual. 

“Roman? I’m coming in man…” Virgil gently turned the knob and opened the door to Roman’s room, peering inside. 

What he saw made his heart drop down to the pit of his stomach. 

“Oh Ro…what happened?” he whispered, more to himself than to Roman, who was distinctly absent from the room. 

The room…Virgil didn’t know how to describe it other than  _wrong_. Roman’s room was usually bright and colorful, with Disney and Broadway memorabilia covering every exposed inch of wall and shelf with fairy lights draped across the walls and ceiling, twinkling like stars. 

But this…this was all wrong. 

The elegant patterned wallpaper was cracked and peeling, revealing mold spots on the wall behind it.  Roman’s beloved posters were torn and crumpled, scattered across the floor like discarded leaves, and the trophy shelf where Roman kept all his most prized theater awards had buckled at the center, unceremoniously dumping all the accolades to the ground. The sight made Virgil’s pulse quicken, his worries no longer so easily ignored.

There was no sign of Roman amidst the mess, confirming that he was in the corner of his room he called his “Kingdom,” where his imagination was given full reign. 

Virgil paused for a minute, considering his options. Part of him wanted to turn and run, run back downstairs to Patton and Logan, they could fix this, right? Logan was brilliant, he’d know what was wrong with Roman’s room, and Patton would be able to coax him back with them. They could fix it better than he could. 

_He only made things worse._

“Stop it,” Virgil muttered aloud, rubbing his eyes. True, he could go down to the others. But the other sides’ words echoed in his mind, making him uneasy. 

_“Your comments to him this morning were the harshest out of everyone’s”_

_“It just might mean a lot to Roman if you were the one to talk to him.”_

_“This is your fault.”_

“Stop it!” Virgil said again, gritting his teeth. He was getting better at quelling the negative thoughts, but here, with his heart racing and with the chaos of the room all around him…

Virgil took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then let it out. 

“Fight or flight,” he mumbled, then before he could change his mind, he sank down into Roman’s kingdom.

* * *

“What on earth could be taking him so long?” Logan wondered aloud, irritation creeping at the edges of his voice. 

“Now Logan, I’m sure it’s fine,” Patton reassured, but he couldn’t keep a worried crease from forming on his brow. Virgil had been gone for over ten minutes now, and Patton was finding it difficult to keep from worrying. Maybe Virgil had been right, maybe he should have been the one to go. Logan’s voice cut through his thoughts, cold and logical, as always. 

“It should not take so long to restore Roman’s bruised ego. The promise of food and a movie night is ordinarily enough to placate his mood.”

“I guess…” Patton said nervously. “Maybe…we should go see what’s wrong?” He was hesitant, the last thing he wanted to do was interrupt a delicate moment, but Logan was right (as usual), something was definitely off…

“That would be a wise course of action,” Logan agreed, getting to his feet. Patton nodded, and stood as well, and the two of them headed up to Roman’s room. 

The door was slightly ajar as they approached, and Patton reached out and tapped the doorframe. 

“Ro? Virge? Everything ok?” he started to ask, then gasped, both hands flying to his mouth. 

“What’s wrong?” Logan asked, pushing his way past Patton into the room, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw the state of the room, with their fellow sides nowhere in sight. 

“Oh,” was all he could say, as he took the ruined room in. 

“L-Logan?” Patton whimpered, a distinct tremor to his voice. Logan turned, and saw Patton clutching his hands together in front of his face, his eyes wide, obviously trying very hard to keep from crying. “What, what’s going on? Why is the room…where are Roman and Virge…what’s happening…” Patton started trembling as he tried to form a sentence, and Logan reached out somewhat awkwardly, placing a hand on Morality’s shaking shoulder. 

“It appears that Roman’s room is reflecting the way he currently is feeling,” Logan said, then silently cursed himself as Patton’s eyes widened even further. 

“This…this is what he’s feeling?” he choked out, his voice barely audible. 

“It would appear so. But do not be distressed, I am sure Virgil is talking to him. They must both be in Roman’s creative dreamspace, since neither are currently here.”

Patton nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat. 

“We have to go after them,” he stated, as firmly as he could manage. Logan nodded in agreement. 

“That would be the most logical course of action,” he said. “Are you going to be alright?” 

Patton nodded again, and he gave a shaky smile. 

“On three then,” Logan said. “One…two…three.”

The pair sank down in unison, appearing side by side in Roman’s kingdom. The moment they appeared, they knew that the situation was far worse than they’d thought. 

They stood together in a vast, empty field that sat in the center of Roman’s kingdom. Usually, the grass was lush and green, the weather sunny and perfect. But now, the grass was withered and gray, with hardly any signs of life. No birds, no butterflies, no small animals. The sky was thick with black, stormy clouds that had a red tinge to them, as though the sun behind them was a dying ember of coal. A hot wind blew against their skin, and the air tasted faintly like ash. 

“Well, this cannot be good-“ Logan started, but was cut off by a sudden scream from Patton. He turned to see the moral side dashing forward, his eyes fixated on something on the ground. 

“Patton, wait!” Logan cried, running after him. 

Patton was kneeling on the ground now, both of his hands clamped over his mouth, tears now freely falling from his eyes. Logan reached hesitantly for him, but then he saw what Patton was looking at and his stomach twisted. 

A pair of headphones lay trampled on the ground, broken clean in two. 

_Virgil._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil and Roman find each other.  
> It does not go well. 
> 
> Logan and Patton set out to try and find Virgil.  
> That doesn't go well either.

Virgil stared at the bleak landscape around him in total shock. Had he sunk down to the wrong place somehow? Roman’s room was usually a very bright, pleasant environment. Granted, sunshine and rainbows weren’t exactly Virgil’s cup of tea, but Roman always conjured up something silent and peaceful for him. Virgil didn’t like to admit it, but he actually enjoyed visiting Roman’s dreamscape if he was feeling overwhelmed by his own room. 

But this…Virgil shuddered and wrapped his hoodie more tightly around his shoulders. 

He thought back to the state of Roman’s bedroom, and he grimaced. No, he wasn’t in the wrong place. Somehow…somehow this  _was_  Roman’s kingdom. Something had just gone horribly wrong with it. 

A rustling from behind him interrupted Virgil’s thoughts, and he turned just in time to see a large black shape bounding towards him. He barely had time to let out a strangled cry before the creature slammed into him. Virgil hit the ground hard, a sickening crack making his stomach twist. He looked up, his eyes widening in fear. 

He was pinned to the ground by a massive, wolfish creature with matted, coal black fur and glowing yellow eyes. He could feel the monster’s hot breath on his face as it snarled, exposing its glistening row of sharp teeth. 

Virgil’s fight or flight instincts kicked in, and he lashed out at the animal’s legs, pushing it off him. The creature faltered and Virgil rolled away, feeling something stab painfully at the back of his neck as he did. He glanced back as he scrambled to his feet, and saw his headphones lying broken on the ground. 

_“So that’s what made that cracking sound,”_  thought the small part of him that wasn’t panicking. 

Virgil began to run blindly, stumbling slightly as he looked around desperately for a place to escape to. He cursed under his breath, he was in the middle of an open field! There was no way he could outrun this thing outright. He risked a glance behind him and knew instantly he was doomed. The thing was already right at his heels again, there was nothing he could do. It tackled him again, and this time Virgil was face down on the ground, the creature’s massive paws pushing against his back. He could feel claws through his hoodie, and he knew that in one swipe it would be over.

“Roman, help me!” Virgil shouted, not even knowing if the creative side could hear him, but not knowing what else to do. He squeezed his eyes shut, and waited for the inevitable. 

And waited. 

He opened one eye. Was he still here? Yes, he could still feel the weight on his back and steamy breath on his neck. Why hadn’t the creature struck yet? 

“There it is!” a booming voice called out from behind. “Ride, men! Let us see what quarry we have caught!” 

Virgil’s heart skipped a beat. That had sounded like… 

The ground rumbled, and Virgil lifted his head as high as he could with the monster’s weight keeping him pinned down. A group of men on horseback were riding towards him, and quickly had him and the beast surrounded. 

“Ignis, come!” one of the men commanded, and Virgil felt the weight leave his back as the creature went over and allowed a chained collar to be placed around its neck. Virgil climbed shakily to his hands and knees, and looked up to find the tip of a sword pointed between his eyes. He froze, his eyes traveling up the length of the blade to the man holding it. He had just dismounted from a black horse and was dressed in dark, kingly attire. But as Virgil’s eyes reached the man’s face, his fear disappeared, and was replaced with annoyance. 

“Roman?” Virgil asked incredulously. He relaxed slightly, leaning away from the sword. “What the hell, man?” 

Roman stared at him, his eyes hard, and Virgil felt a hint of fear creeping into his chest again. But no, that was ridiculous. He wasn’t in any danger; this was  _Roman_  he was talking to…right? 

Roman didn’t speak for several moments that may as well have been hours, and Virgil couldn’t help but squirm under his gaze. 

“What are you doing here, Virgil?” he finally asked, and Virgil was surprised by how bitter he sounded. Even before, when their relationship hadn’t been, well, all that great, Roman had never spoken with such… _contempt_  towards him before.  

“You…didn’t come down for dinner,” Virgil stammered. Roman frowned 

“I-what?”

“You’ve been up here all day, and you didn’t come down for dinner,” Virgil repeated. “Patton got worried, and he and Logan thought I should come up and…” he trailed off, as he remembered Logan’s words once more.

_“Your comments to him this morning were the harshest out of everyone’s.”_

Roman’s frown deepened, and Virgil couldn’t help but notice that he had not lowered his sword. 

“Uh, you think you could put that thing away, man?” he asked nervously. “You’re kinda freakin’ me out.” 

Roman laughed, and it was when Virgil heard that cold, empty sound that he began to think he was in serious trouble. 

“Roman?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper. 

“You shouldn’t have come here,” Roman said, finally sheathing his sword. “But since you have, I must admit, it makes my plan much easier.” He nodded to one of the men with him, then turned away, mounting his horse. 

“Your plan? What plan-” Virgil began, but before he could finish his question something hard hit him on the head and the world swam around him in a blurry haze. The last thing he saw was Roman, sitting atop his black horse, a satisfied smile on his face. 

Then everything went black. 

* * *

Patton took a shaky breath as he reached out with trembling hands and gingerly picked up the broken headphones. 

“Oh Virgil…” he whispered, his voice catching in his throat. He looked up at Logan, tears stinging his eyes. “What are we gonna do, Logan?” 

Logan looked around, and saw no sign of anyone or any _thing_  else. It was just the two of them, and a wide, open field. What  _were_  they going to do? He had to come up with a plan, that was what he did. Everyone relied on him to figure out what was going and to solve the problems. He was the problem-solving guy, that’s what he did. Come on, think! Think think think think think!

Patton hiccupped, and the sound pulled Logan out of his thoughts. He realized that he’d been clenching his fists and jaw, and he took a deep breath, slowly relaxing his muscles. This was not a time for panic. 

_Virgil needed him._

_Roman needed him._

_Patton needed him._

Logan squatted down next to Patton, unsure of how to proceed. 

“Patton?” he asked hesitantly. Of all the things he was needed for, emotional support was admittedly not something he felt at ease doing. That was usually Patton’s department, or Virgil if Patton himself needed comforting. But he needed Patton to be calm, and there was no one else around to help. 

“Virgil loves these headphones,” Patton murmured, barely noticing Logan’s presence. “He-he loves them, he’d n-never let anything happen to them…”

“Patton,” Logan said again, more forcefully this time. He reached out and closed his hands around Patton’s covering up the headphones. “Patton, look at me.”

Patton did eventually look up, meeting Logan’s eyes.  They were full of concern, but set in a hard, determined stare. 

“We’re going to find him, ok? We’re going to find them both, but I need you to stay calm,” Logan said, his voice firm, though not unkind. “Can you do that for me? Can you do that for  _them_?” 

Patton looked down at his hands, still clutching Virgil’s headphones, then back up at Logan and gave a shaky nod. He could feel his protective, familial instincts kicking in, overpowering the mess of emotions that were surging through his heart. He nodded again, more firmly, and his eyes hardened into a determined stare that matched Logan’s. 

“Yes.” He kept nodding, and when he spoke, his voice no longer shook. “Yes, I can do that. For Virgil. And Roman.” 

“Good,” said Logan, relief briefly flashing across his face. “Now…” 

His eyes swept over the ground, taking everything in. 

“The grass is bent down, that coupled with the evidence from Virgil’s headphones indicates that there was a struggle,” Logan glanced over at Patton, but the emotional side merely gripped the headphones tighter and nodded, all his attention focused on Logan. Logan nodded encouragingly at him before continuing. 

“However, there is no other sign of Virgil or what he was struggling with. Ergo, he must not have been too seriously injured. And here…” Logan’s eyes followed a trail of trampled vegetation. 

“It looks like he ran this way…” Logan noted the width of the trail and grimaced. “ _And was chased,”_  he thought, but didn’t say aloud. He didn’t want to upset Patton any further, who knows what might break Patton’s thin defenses? 

Logan got to his feet and began walking, following the faint trail. He stopped before too long, kneeling again and tracing something on the ground. 

“What is it?” Patton asked, peering over his shoulder. Logan stood and looked all around them. 

“Hoof prints. A lot of them, left by horses wearing horseshoes.”  

“There were a lot of horses here?” Patton asked, and Logan nodded. 

“Horses that had riders. It is unlikely that this many shoed horses would be roaming a field such as this without their owners present.” 

“So Virgil is probably ok!” Patton said, the hope in his voice painfully evident. “He probably got some help from the nice horse people, and they all went into town or something!” 

Logan didn’t look at him, instead continuing his inspection of the area. He wanted to believe Patton’s words with every fiber in his being, but he couldn’t let optimism cloud his judgement. Just because Virgil had met people did not mean they were nice people. But try telling that to Patton. 

Good natured Patton, who had wanted to accept Virgil from the start, when all they knew him as was Anxiety, thought of by Logan and Roman as a problem that needed solving. 

Innocent Patton, who saw the good in everyone and got upset if he stepped on a ladybug and cried at the end of Mary Poppins.  

No, Logan decided, let Patton keep his optimism for as long as possible. He could handle being the worrier, it was, after all, part of what he did. Though he did note with the smallest glimmer of hope that there was no blood or other signs of trauma anywhere. It was indeed quite possible that Virgil was still alright. Logan just wouldn’t believe it until he saw it with his own eyes. 

“Logan?” Patton’s voice cut through Logan’s thoughts, and he looked up to see Patton watching him with…was that worry on his face? 

“Yes?” Logan asked, startled by Patton’s expression. 

“Are you scared?” Patton’s voice was smooth and even, and Logan recognized it instantly. It was the dad voice, what Patton used to calm down the others when they were having particularly bad emotional breakdowns. 

“Patton, I-“

“Because I’m terrified,” Patton continued, interrupting Logan, a shaky smile shooting across his face before it slipped back into the stoic dad mask. “I’m terrified that something has happened to Virgil, I don’t understand why Roman’s room is like this right now and I’m scared for him and what he’s going through to make it like this, and I just…” Patton swallowed, and looked Logan right in the face. “I know that you think you have to be the strong one right now. That you’re Sherlock, all stoic and emotionless and that you can solve this without any feelings getting in your way. And you  _can_  solve this Lo, you are so smart, you could solve anything. Just…remember that it’s ok for you to have feelings too, ok? It’s ok to be scared.”

Logan stared for a moment, unsure of what to say. Patton had a way of seeing through them all, no matter what the situation. As he struggled to find words, Patton stepped forward, his arms opening. Logan stepped into the hug and sighed, allowing his emotions to control his mind for a brief moment. Patton’s grip was just a bit tighter than usual, and Logan knew that the hug wasn’t just to reassure himself. He patted him awkwardly on the back, and the two stood for a minute, taking solace in each other. 

Logan was the first to pull away; even in this tense situation, he did not enjoy expressing feelings. 

“Thank you,” he said, taking a deep breath. Patton smiled back, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

“Anytime, kiddo. Now, what’s next for the great Sherlock and his trusty Watson?”

Logan couldn’t help but smile at that, but it was fleeting as he once again turned his attention to the footprints on the ground. 

“We need to follow these. If we do…”

“We find Virgil!” Patton said, a pained smile on his face. Logan nodded. 

“We find Virgil,” he agreed. 

_Hopefully._


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil awakens in a strange place, and Roman's presence isn't exactly comforting. Meanwhile Logan and Patton make their way into town, discover more things that are off about the dreamscape, and meet a new ally.

A dull throbbing at the back of his skull brought Virgil painfully back to consciousness. He sat up, running his hand over the spot, groaning as he felt a goose egg bump beneath his fingertips. Not five seconds after he noticed the pain in his head, he noticed the pain everywhere else. 

“What the hell?” he grunted through gritted teeth, looking around. He had been lying on a cold, slightly damp stone floor, which explained the crick in his neck and the pain in his shoulders. His eyes quickly found a wooden cot that no one had thought to lay him on, three stone walls, and a fourth composed of iron bars. A barred door sat locked in place with a chain and heavy padlock. Through the bars, he could make out dim torchlight casting moving shadows on the ground. There were no guards in sight, just a few other similar cells, all empty. 

“You have got to be kidding me,” Virgil muttered to himself. He dragged himself to his feet and cautiously approached the door to his cell. 

“Hello?” he called, peering out. “Is anyone there?” 

No answer. 

Virgil reached out, his fingertips brushing the iron bars. They were cold to the touch, rough and rusted in some places. Virgil shook his head. Roman, ever the ‘extra’ one as Logan said, pulled no stops when creating his fantasy landscapes. Usually, they were breathtaking; sights to behold that even Virgil had to admit were impressive. But it seemed Roman wasn’t in the mood to create beauty. 

“Roman?” he called, frowning as he detected a slight tremor in his own voice. He took a breath, steadying himself, then called out again, keeping his voice firm. “Roman!” 

Still no response. 

Virgil sighed. Fine. He wasn’t going to sit here and be toyed with anymore. He stuffed his hands into his hoodie pockets and closed his eyes, preparing to sink out of Roman’s dreamscape. 

Except…he couldn’t. 

Virgil opened his eyes and frowned. He tried again, but it was useless. He stayed put, inside Roman’s dreamscape and inside his cell. His heart began thumping hard against his chest and his breathing quickened. 

_“I’m trapped,”_  he thought, his mind racing. He squeezed his eyes shut, but he couldn’t stop the thoughts from flying through his head.  

_“I can’t get out. I can’t get out can’t get out can’t-”_

“Well isn’t this nice.”  

Virgil’s eyes flew open, and his breath caught in his throat. Roman was standing outside his cell, arms folded. His normal white prince outfit had been replaced with a black one, accented with silver, the bright red sash across his chest appearing more sinister against the dark background. Roman stood calmly, and regarded Virgil with…was that amusement on his face? The ‘fight’ half of Virgil’s instincts flared up in his chest, and he folded his arms himself, glaring at the creative entity. 

“Ok, Princey. This isn’t funny.” 

Roman smiled, and Virgil had to admit the sight was unnerving. This was not Roman’s usual excited, bursting with ideas smile. It wasn’t even his sarcastic, teasing smile that accompanied the bad nicknames and offhanded insults. This smile was humorless, and had a hunger to it that made Virgil’s stomach churn with nerves. 

“What makes you think this is a joke?” Roman asked, opening his arms and gesturing around at their surroundings. “This isn’t a joke, and this isn’t a game. I’m done playing games.” 

Virgil stared at him, and realized he was serious. He shook his head in disbelief.  

“What is wrong with you, man?” 

“What is  _WRONG_  with me?” Roman’s cool demeanor snapped in an instant, making Virgil jump. “Why don’t you tell me, that seems to be what you’re best at!”  

“What?”

“It’s a good start, Roman, but it’s a bit  _messy_ ,” Roman whined, his voice a perfect mimic of Patton’s. Well, almost perfect. Patton had never been that scathing in his criticism before. 

“Surely you see how unrealistic this is, Roman,” he continued, switching from Patton’s gentle suggestion to Logan’s cool, collected reasoning. “There is no conceivable way Thomas would be able to incorporate all of this into one single project. Why not  _tone it down_?” 

Virgil grimaced as Roman impersonated his fellow sides. He knew those words; they were exactly what Logan and Patton had said to Roman that morning. 

“Don’t,” he whispered, knowing what was coming next. 

“Roman, just  _drop it_! Thomas is never going to be able to accomplish that, you’re just setting him up for _failure_!” 

Virgil’s words came back to haunt him in his own voice, Roman mimicking the very tone and inflections he had used perfectly. 

“Roman, I-” 

“And that was just this morning!” Roman spat, his normal voice returning. “It’s all I ever get from the lot of you! ‘I don’t know about this, Roman!’ ‘This will never work, Creativity!’ ‘Princey, you are done. Give it up!’ Well you know what? I am  _tired_  of it!” Roman shouted, throwing up his arms. Virgil instinctively took a step back, despite the cell wall separating them. 

“I am not letting you hold me and Thomas back any longer,” Roman said, stepping forward and putting his face close to the bars. Virgil stared at him, struggling to find words. What could he even say? 

_You’re wrong._

_Thomas needs you._

_We need you._

_We’re sorry._

_**I’m**  sorry._

That’s what he should say. That’s what Roman deserved to hear, but heartfelt apologies were more Patton’s department, and Roman’s insults were ringing in Virgil’s ears, making it hard to think. 

“I…I don’t hold Thomas back…” he eventually muttered, not meeting Roman’s eyes. 

_Yes, you do._

_You overdo it, all you do is hinder him._

_He’d be better off without you._  

“I  **don’t** ,” he insisted, his voice growing layers as his heart beat faster and faster in his chest.  

“Really?” Roman asked, his voice venomous. “I’m responsible for Thomas’s hopes and dreams, and if I remember correctly, Thomas hoped and dreamed to get rid of  _you._ ” 

Virgil looked down, glaring at his shoes. He tried to shut out the memory of the first time he had appeared in the physical world, but it came flooding back despite his efforts. No one had been happy to see him. No one had wanted him. 

_They still don’t._

“ **That** …was a long time ago,” He said, pushing the layers away. “Besides…I-I tried to disappear, remember? And…”

_You all came after me._

_You said you needed me._

_You said I made you better._

Roman sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes  

“And we came after you, is that what you were going to say?” 

Virgil’s silence was all the answer Roman needed. 

“Well, maybe that was a mistake,” Roman said flatly. 

_It was._

_You should never have come back._

_Stupid stupid stupid, this is all your fault, you’re making it worse-_

“Then again,” Roman sighed, interrupting the anxious thoughts that swirled in Virgil’s mind. “Thomas  _does_  need a flight or fight response. And he  _does_  need a heart, and he  _does_  need structure every once in a while. Hence, this place.” He gestured around the dungeon, and at the other, empty cells. Virgil’s eyes widened as he realized what Roman meant. 

“Roman, you can’t just-” 

“Keep you all here? Of course I can,” Roman said simply. “I’m already one-third of the way there!” A chilling smile spread across his face, making Virgil’s blood run cold. 

“Well, enjoy the solitude while you have it,” the creative side sneered, turning away. “Cause you won’t have it for much longer.” 

Virgil stared at him as he walked away, dumbfounded. 

“You won’t be able to catch them,” he found himself saying.  

Roman paused and looked back, his smile growing wider and even more unsettling. 

“I won’t have to,” he taunted. “They’ll come looking for you.” 

With that, he strutted out of the room, the dungeon door clanging shut behind him, echoing loudly off the stone walls. 

“Wait, Roman!  _Roman!”_ Virgil  shouted, but it was no use. 

The creative side had gone, leaving Virgil alone with a cold sense of dread growing in the pit of his stomach.

* * *

Patton and Logan walked in silence through the corrupted fields of Roman’s dreamscape, following the tracks left behind by the horses. Logan was focused completely on the trail, watching the footprints crisscross and overlap each other, leading them towards…well, he didn’t know what. Hopefully more clues to Virgil and Roman’s whereabouts, but honestly he had no way of knowing for sure if that’s where the trail led. 

All he had was hope, and he hated relying solely on hope. 

He glanced behind him at Patton, who was scanning the landscape around them, forehead creased in worry. Logan remembered then that, besides Roman, Patton spent the most time out of anyone in the creative kingdom, emotions and creativity often working together to craft the next big idea. 

“Patton?” he asked, an unspoken question hanging in the air between them. Patton looked up at him, and for once didn’t try to force a smile. 

“The more I look at it all, the more wrong it gets,” he said quietly, gripping Virgil’s headphones tighter in his hands. “Look at the forest,” he continued, pointing towards the tree line to the north. “The trees have changed. And this meadow…” Patton kicked at the ground. “There’s all these thorns growing.” 

Logan nodded in agreement, he had already endured a few cuts on his ankles from the tangled branches. 

“I believe it is the plant classified as  _Nolina lindheimeriana_ , more commonly known as Devil’s Shoe-string,” he said, examining the plants. 

“Well whatever it’s called, it doesn’t usually grow here,” Patton insisted. “And the grass is never this brown, and look.” He points skyward. “I’ve never seen a thunderstorm with clouds that black before, not even in the real world.” 

“We have never seen the real world, Patton,” Logan said without thinking, then cringed internally. “I am sorry, I only meant-” 

“I know Logan,” Patton said, the ghost of a smile twitching on his lips. 

“It’s just, it’s hard to turn the logic off sometimes, and I know it is not always appropriate to bring up-” 

“Logan, it’s  _fine_ ,” Patton said, finally smiling for real. Logan nodded, appreciating Patton’s seemingly endless understanding. 

The two traveled in silence for a time, taking in the unsettling surroundings. 

Before too long, the tracks left the bare grass and met a dirt road that snaked its way through the meadow. Patton perked up a bit as they traveled down the path in the direction of the prints. 

“This is the road into town, I’m sure of it!” 

Sure enough, the outline of a town soon came into view, a large castle dominating the skyline. Patton’s face quickly fell as they approached the city walls, a growing sense of dread building in his chest. Tall, black iron gates sat in the place of what were usually wooden doors, delicately carved with beautiful patterns. Guards glared down from watch posts, spears in their hands and scowls on their faces. Something bothered him about the way they stared at the pair as they passed, and he quickened his pace, taking the lead from Logan. 

“Patton?” Logan said quizzically, but Patton just grabbed Logan’s hand and pulled him along. 

“Patton, what-” Logan tried again, but Patton shook his head and kept moving, pulling Logan into a side alley off the deserted main rode, crouching behind some broken crates in the shadows. 

“Patton, what in God’s name-” Logan started, but was stunned into silence when Patton placed a hand over his mouth. 

“ _Quiet!_ ” he hissed, and Logan was so surprised that he obliged, staring at the moral side in confusion. Patton was peeking over the edge of the crates, scanning what was visible of the street. 

“Okay,” he breathed. “I don’t think we were followed.” 

“Patton, are you going to explain what we’re doing huddled in an alley by the trash heaps?” Logan asked in a loud whisper. Patton turned to look at him, worry etched across his face.

“This is wrong,” he muttered back, looking as confused as Logan felt. 

“What are you talking about?”

Patton sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. 

“Look, I can’t explain it, ok? Not like you’d be able to, I just…something is very wrong here. I can tell. I couldn’t tell you why, I can’t back it up with any logic, it’s just…don’t you feel it?” he asked, looking at Logan helplessly. 

Logan frowned. He did not like to rely solely on gut feelings and intuition, not when there were facts to consider. But considering the facts that were available…

Logan looked out at the street and saw a guard pass by. He quickly ducked back down, hoping he hadn’t been seen. After a moment, he peeked out again, and saw no one. No one at all. Something clicked in his brain, and he silently cursed himself for not noticing sooner.

“I may know what’s bothering you,” he said, turning back to Patton. 

“What?” 

“Look at the streets again,” Logan urged, nodding towards the opening in the alleyway. Patton peered out from behind the crates, scanning the streets. 

“What am I supposed to see?” he asked in a hushed voice. 

“It’s not what you see, it’s what you  _don’t_  see,” Logan insisted. 

“What?” 

“Look,” the logical trait said, turning Patton around to face him. “You’ve been here lots of times, right?” 

“Yeah, with Roman.” 

“This is a city. Roman likes his fantasy worlds to be as lifelike as possible, to the point of inhabiting his creations with realistic populations of flora and fauna.”  

“Uh huh?” Patton said, staring blankly at Logan, who sighed and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. 

“This city is populated, Patton. So-”

“Where are all the people?” Patton finished, his eyes growing wide.  

“Hiding from the soldiers,” a quiet voice offered.

Both sides jumped at the sudden sound, and Logan yelped in surprise, his glasses falling askew on his face as the two whirled to face the source of the voice. 

A pair of large, dark eyes were peering through the slates of a crate a few yards behind them. 

“Hello?” Patton called, cautiously. “Who’s there?” 

A small girl poked her head out from behind the crate, a tangled mess of curls falling around her dirty face. She eyed them warily, looking ready to run at any moment.

Patton’s face melted into a smile instantly at the sight of her. 

“Hi there, kiddo,” he said gently, so as not to spook the child. “What’s your name?” 

The girl didn’t speak, just stood watching them, half hidden behind the crate. 

“My name is Patton, and this is my friend Logan,” Patton said, holding up his hands in a peaceful gesture. “We won’t hurt you, promise.” 

The girl’s eyes flitted between Patton and Logan, finally staying locked on the paternal side. 

“Maddie,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Patton grinned, then reached behind him. Maddie ducked back behind the crate as he pulled something from his back pocket. 

“No, it’s ok!” he said hurriedly, holding out half of a chocolate bar to the girl. “You want some?” 

The girl slowly came back out, and eyed the candy suspiciously. Patton broke off a small piece and popped it in his mouth. 

“It’s good,” he said with a smile. The demonstration seemed to convince the girl, and she suddenly darted forward, snatching the chocolate from his outstretched hand and scampering back to her hiding place. Patton laughed, and wiped his hands on his pants. Logan glanced over at him, raising one eyebrow. 

“You keep chocolate in your pocket?” he inquired. Patton shrugged. 

“I was nibbling on it before dinner,” he admitted, before turning back towards the girl. 

“Do you like it?” he asked her. 

Maddie nodded, a small smile playing at the corner of her lips as she enjoyed the treat.

“I’m sorry, Maddie, was it?” Logan asked, straightening his glasses. “You said the people are hiding from the soldiers?” 

Maddie nodded again, her smile sliding away instantly. 

“They get meaner sometimes, when the sky gets dark and the sun goes red. People are scared of them, and they hide inside.” 

“So why aren’t you hiding inside?” Logan asked, earning an elbow in the side from Patton. 

_“What?_ ” he hissed, and Patton gave him a look that said  _don’t scare her!_ Maddie shrugged, as she nibbled at the chocolate. 

“No inside to go to,” she said simply, watching the two with a curious expression on her face.

“Oh…” Patton said, his voice full of sympathy. 

Logan silently wished he could display the same level of caring as his emotional counterpart, but he could not quell the barrage of questions the girl’s words had left spinning in his brain. He chose to ask the one he thought to be the most important, but before he could voice it, a barrage of footsteps sounded down from the main streets. 

Maddie squeaked and darted deeper into the alleyway, her bare feet making no noise on the cobblestones. 

“What-” Logan started to ask before Patton slapped a hand over his mouth again, eyes wide. He jerked his head towards the street, and Logan looked to see a squadron of soldiers marching down towards the gate, filling the whole road. 

_What do we do?_ Patton mouthed. Logan just shook his head. For once, he didn’t have any answers. Ordinarily in this situation he’d ask Roman…but they had yet to see any sign of their fellow side, and Logan was growing more apprehensive about finally coming face to face with him the more of his dreamscape they saw. 

Patton flinched suddenly, and Logan snapped out of his thoughts. Maddie had padded back up to them, so silent he hadn’t even heard her approach, and had tugged on Patton’s arm. 

“Come  _on_ ,” she hissed. “Curfew’s starting soon! We have to go!” She pulled on Patton’s arm again, then turned, scampering back down the alleyway. The girl turned back before rounding the corner, and motioned for them to follow. 

“ _Hurry!_ ” she whispered. 

Logan and Patton exchanged glances, and an understanding passed between them. As quietly as they could, they got to their feet and followed their new guide into the dark. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan and Patton must stay in one piece as they traverse the back alleys of Roman's realm; dodging the guards and the gangs while Roman himself puts his plan into action...

Roman stood at the window of his study, looking down on the sprawling city that stretched outwards from the castle. He could see the squadrons of soldiers fanning out in the streets, looking for all the world like ants marching out from an anthill to carry out their queen’s bidding. 

Or in this case, their prince’s. 

He watched the far-off soldiers slowly vanish from sight as they left the main market square that surrounded the palace and disappeared into the streets of the city.  _His_  city. A knock sounded at the door, and he frowned at the interruption to his thoughts. 

“Enter,” he called, turning away from the window. His steward rushed into the room, stopping a few feet in front of Roman’s desk.

“My Prince.” The man bowed deeply from the waist. “You wanted to see me?” 

“Yes. I see that the guards have been sent out?” 

“Every patrol doubled; just as you commanded, sire. Though the captain did express concern about leaving so few behind to guard the castle–”

“If the captain has concerns, he may bring them to me personally,” Roman interrupted, a cold edge to his voice. His steward bowed again and Roman suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. 

“Of course, your highness, forgive me.” 

“It is of no consequence,” Roman huffed. “Come now, there is another matter for you to attend to.” 

Roman sat down at his desk and beckoned the steward forward. He picked up two pieces of parchment, and after checking that the ink had dried, handed them over. The steward took them and examined them closely, a small frown crossing his face. 

“Two wanted posters…of the same person?” he asked, looking up hesitantly at the prince. Roman did roll his eyes this time, an expression that sent a shiver down the steward’s spine. 

“No, fool. Look closer.” 

The steward did so, peering at the two hand inked drawings. Now that the prince mentioned it…while the two faces were nearly identical, down to the same pair of glasses resting on the bridge of their noses, there were a few subtle differences that the artist, Prince Roman, he assumed, had captured. Enough of their busts were visible in the portraits to see that the two were wearing different clothing, and one had a few freckles sprinkled across his nose and cheeks, while the other’s hair was swept back a little more neatly, his eyes a bit harder set. 

“I see…” he said as his eyes traveled up and down the posters, eventually settling on the block letters at the bottom of the pages. “WANTED: Enemies of the Crown. Reward for their capture: One Thousand Gold Pieces,” he read aloud, looking up. “One thousand gold pieces? For the pair of them?”  

“One thousand each,” Roman corrected. “Two thousand for the pair.” 

“Sire…if you don’t mind my asking, why such a hefty sum? These men…well, they do not appear dangerous.” 

“Is it your place to say who is a danger to this kingdom and who is not?” 

Roman’s voice was low and menacing, and the steward swallowed, feeling a bead of sweat forming on his brow. 

“N-no, your highness.” 

“If I say that these men are enemies of the crown, then they are enemies of the crown.” 

“O-of course, your highness.” 

“And do stop stuttering like a schoolboy, it is not becoming of one in the service of royalty.” 

“I–yes. Of course, your highness. Sorry, your highness.” 

“When you’ve finished groveling, see to it that copies are made and distributed in the town square and along every major street, as well as in the smaller markets, the poorer districts, everywhere. By morning, I want the city so covered with these posters that it looks as though we’re experimenting with wallpaper.” 

“As you wish, sire.” 

“And see to it that the reward is ready from the treasury.” 

“Yes, sire. Will there be anything else?” 

Roman stared into the man’s eyes for a moment, and sighed.  

“I know that the citizens have inquiring minds. And if you, someone who should more clearly  _know his place_ –” the steward lowered his eyes, “–have questions, then they will as well. You may spread this word along with the posters: if these men are captured, I believe it will bring about the end of the Red Sun.” 

The stewards head snapped up at those words, his eyes wide. An end to the Red Sun? Surely such a thing was impossible…too absurd to even hope for. 

“Go now, and remember I want the city covered by daybreak.”

The steward bowed low again and all but ran from the room. Covering the city by daybreak would be no easy task, but if it might bring about an end to the curse that kept falling over the land…he had to see it done. That and who knew what the Prince might do if he _didn’t_ get it done. He was so caught up in his thoughts, he almost collided with his servant boy, who had been waiting for him outside the royal study. 

“Walter, fetch the court wizard,” the steward instructed after collecting himself. “Tell him to cast a spell or potion on these posters that will make them multiply. We have no time for the scribes tonight.” 

The boy nodded, taking the papers and rushing off. The steward paced up and down the corridor, shaking his head. The prince was always a bit eccentric, but in times like this…he glanced out the window at the darkened sky and grimaced. In times like this, he was downright unreasonable. How was he going to make sure the posters were hung everywhere in time? They had royal messengers, but their numbers were not great enough to cover the city in one night. There had to be a faster way…

The idea came to him as Walter came hurrying back, bowing slightly to his master before delivering a message from the court wizard. 

“The spell has been cast, sir. He says they should be done multiplying in about ten minutes time.” The steward nodded. 

“Good. Tell me something, Walter. Does the street rat you pay to run your errands in the kingdom live near the castle?” Walter’s eyes went wide. 

“W-what? Why, sir, I d-don’t know what you-” 

“I am aware that on multiple occasions you have slipped a few coins to the urchin and slacked off instead of doing the work yourself. Ordinarily, you would be punished…” Walter winced and hung his head. “…but I may let these incidents go if you can get your little servant to do something for me.” 

“Anything!” the boy said quickly, looking back up at his master. 

“I assume that this person will know most if not all of the other street urchins in the city?” the steward asked. 

“Probably,” Walter agreed with a nod. 

“Excellent. Go out, and tell them to contact as many of them as they can and gather them at the servants’ entrance of the castle. Every one of them that hangs up a stack of the wanted posters up around the city will paid enough to buy a hot breakfast.” 

Walter nodded and dashed away to find his errand runner. Satisfied, the steward resumed his pacing. Paying the urchins would cost them, as would paying the reward, but it would all be worth it if what the Prince said was true. The steward turned and looked out the window at the sky, streams of red light shining faintly through holes in the dark storm clouds that hung low over the kingdom. 

He could only hope. 

* * *

The sun was setting as Maddie slipped effortlessly down the alleyway, dodging debris, ducking down barely visible pathways, and skipping over puddles. Patton and Logan followed much more clumsily, squinting against the dim light. The terrain was made even harder to navigate by the shadows closing in around them, and the speed their new ally was travelling at did not help matters. They were picking their way through the alley as fast as they could, but Maddie still was impossible to keep up with. Every so often she would glance behind her, to see if they were still there, but her pace never slowed. Suddenly, they rounded a corner and were faced with a dead end, with no sign of the girl anywhere.

“Wha-?” Patton wheezed, trying to catch his breath. “Where’d she…?”  

“Psst, in here!”

They looked down to see a metal grate lying on the ground, large brown eyes peering up at them from a hole in the street. The two of them exchanged a questioning look, then Patton nodded and clambered down after her, Logan following a moment later. Maddie reached up and pulled the grate back over them, then began to creep down the dark, slimy corridor.

Patton and Logan followed close behind her, ducking their heads to avoid hitting them on the low ceiling.

“Where are–” Logan started asking, but Maddie shushed him, stopping barely for a moment to stare back at him.

“Quiet!” she hissed. “Not safe!”

The two sides followed her through what Logan could only deduce from the overpowering smell of waste and mildew was a sewer. He glanced over at Patton, who was pulling his cat hoodie over his head, and suddenly wished that he himself carried a more practical garment to fight off the damp chill hanging in the air. He wrapped his arms around himself as they walked, picking his way carefully around the puddles of…he didn’t want to think about what. Instead, he trained his attention on the girl wordlessly leading the way in front of them. The child couldn’t have been older than ten or eleven, yet she moved with the care and certainty of someone much older. He glanced over at Patton again, and saw that he too had his eyes trained on the girl, his face twisted with sympathy. Logan once again found himself wishing that he had Patton’s level of understanding empathy; it would make situations such as this far easier for him to navigate.

Logan was so lost in his own thoughts that he almost didn’t notice that Maddie had come to a halt a few feet in front of him; it took Patton pulling on his sleeve to grab his attention. When he looked up, he could tell instantly that something was wrong. Maddie stood still as a statue, and he wasn’t even fully convinced she was breathing. A few yards ahead of them, firelight was flickering from around a corner, illuminating what he could barely make out to be a fork in the tunnel.

“Maddie?” Patton whispered, glancing at Logan in concern. She turned back to face them, her eyes wide.

“Do you have any money?” she asked urgently, her voice low.

“We do not,” Logan replied as Patton shook his head.

Maddie took a deep breath, holding her hand up over her mouth to muffle the sound.

“I don’t even have enough for one…” she mused, almost to herself.

“What are you talking about, kiddo?”

“The fee!” she hissed at him, as if it were obvious. “For safe passage.” She turned back to look at the flickering light, then seemed to steel herself. Turning back to face the confused pair of sides, she pointed down the corridor in front of them.

“Straight ahead, then take your first right, then the second left. There’s a ladder at the end of that corridor, climb up and then push back the grate just like when we came down here. You got that?”

“I-yes, but what?” Logan stammered, trying to glean meaning from her words.

“When I give the signal, run,” Maddie urged. “Follow those directions, and run as fast as you can.”

“Kiddo, what’s going on?” Patton asked, his voice tinged with worry. “Are you okay?”

She simply shook her head.

“None of us are, not down here. This is  _their_ territory. And I don’t have enough for all three of us to pass safely. In fact…” she tilted a small cloth pouch over her hand, and a few copper coins toppled out onto her palm. “I don’t even have enough for myself,” she said quietly, staring sadly down at the coins.

Patton made a tutting noise, but before he or Logan could speak, Maddie’s face had slipped back into a hard mask. She reached into a hidden pocket on her skirt and pulled out a handful of small pebbles and dropped her few coins into the mix.

“Which is why we have to be  _fast_. When I throw these, you run, and don’t wait for me.” Her eyes were hard and calculating, a stark contrast to her youthful face.

“Kiddo…” Patton began, but Maddie shook her head.

“No time. I know these guys. We do it my way, or you both turn back.” 

Logan glanced at Patton and briefly placed a hand on his shoulder. Patton met his eyes, and Logan nodded at him. They had to trust her; clearly she knew how to survive in this strange version of Roman’s realm. Patton nodded back, and Logan turned back to Maddie.

“Alright. Your way.”

The girl nodded, then motioned for them to follow her. She squared her shoulders and walked out in front of the fork, in full view and making no effort to muffle her footsteps. After a moment, Patton and Logan followed suit, and when they stopped behind Maddie, Logan couldn’t suppress a sharp intake of breath.

Illuminated by the light of a cooking fire was a rather fierce looking collection of individuals that Logan could only assume to be bandits or thugs of some kind. There were at least a dozen of the them, perhaps more, and Logan couldn’t see a single face unmarred by some sort of burn, scar, or disfigurement. Most of them were wearing a patchwork of armor, as though they had collected it from various sources over time. A breastplate here, boots there, whatever they could get from any poor unfortunate souls that had gotten on their bad side. Logan sensed Patton tense beside him, and knew that even the moral side wouldn’t be able to find a positive spin on this situation. 

“Well well well, what have we here?” The voice was sly and dripping with a false sweetness that made Logan’s stomach curl in disgust. “Three little flies, caught in our web.” The owner of the voice, a lithe looking man with long strings of greasy hair and a ratty tunic in place of armor stood up and sauntered towards them. He stopped when the distance between them was only a few feet and looked the group up and down with a predatory gleam in his eye. He grinned, exposing grimy yellow teeth as his hungry eyes traveled over first Logan, then Patton. Logan did his best not to squirm, keeping his face a mask of indifference as they were scrutinized. The bandit finally turned to Maddie, and his grin widened.

“You brought me fresh meat, little fly?”

“Hardly,” she spat. “They’re just passing through, same as me.”

_“Riiiiight._ ” The thug glanced back to his companions and smirked, eliciting a ripple of snorts and guffaws. “Well you know the rules, little fly. You have to pay to pass through the web.” He pulled out a long, sharp knife and rubbed the tip with his thumb, the grin on his face growing, if possible, even wider. “We wouldn’t want you or your nice new friends to get trapped in it now, would we?” 

“I know the rules,” Maddie said through gritted teeth. She held up her closed fist, and Logan tore his eyes away from the hypnotic firelight dancing on the bandit’s blade, bracing himself to run. “Take your money, and go choke on a rat’s bone!” With that, she tossed the handful of stones and coins right into the middle of the circle of bandits, spun on her heel, and began to run. Logan felt Patton grab his hand as the two of them took off after the small girl. As they ran, Logan couldn’t help but appreciate the simple ingenuity of Maddie’s plan. The sound of the few genuine coins in the handful of stones had been enough to sound like she had thrown a substantial number of coins on the ground, and every bandit’s eyes were on the handful of objects once she had thrown them, the dim firelight making it difficult to see what was actually flying through the air. By the time he heard the bandits’ shouts of indignation and rage, they had already taken one of the turns and were nearing their second.

“Keep going!” Maddie hissed at them, skidding to a halt in front of the first left.

“What?” Patton cried, almost stopping, but Logan pulled him along. “Logan, no!” he protested as they stumbled along. “They could hurt her!”

“We…we have to trust her,” Logan panted back as they hurried down the second left. He glanced behind him as they ran, to see Maddie pull another stone from her pocket, this one flat and smooth. She waited until she could see torchlight flickering on the tunnel behind them, then flicked her wrist, sending the stone flying down the tunnel on the first left. As soon as the stone left her hand she darted silently away and into the second tunnel. Logan heard a few plops, followed by a shout of “They’re down here!” and he suddenly realized what she had done. He shook his head, impressed. Maddie’s level of resourcefulness was truly quite remarkable.

He heard a scraping noise from above him and looked up to see Patton at the top of the ladder, pushing the grate away from the hole in the streets above them. He started up the ladder after Patton, and by the time he reached the top he was being pulled through by the moral side, Maddie right at his heels.

“Cover it, quickly,” she whispered, and Patton nodded, pushing the grate back into its place with only a quiet scraping to give them away. Maddie turned and scanned their surroundings for a moment, then nodded in satisfaction, getting to her feet. Night had officially fallen, and her silhouette was just barely visible against the surrounding darkness.

“Where are we?” Logan wondered aloud, looking around the dead-end alleyway they had emerged into. 

“Somewhere safe,” came the reply, and the two sides spun around just in time to see the tiny flame of a match flicker to life, casting Maddie’s face into deep shadow. She was sitting on the ground, her back leaned up against a crate in a makeshift lean-to that was pressed into the corner of the alley. A grubby looking pile of blankets were heaped up next to the crate, and she was rummaging in a small box laying at her feet.

“Aha!” she cried, pulling out a tiny stub of a candle. She placed it gingerly on top of the crate and lit it, then blew her match out with a quiet puff of air. 

“You are positive this location is secure?” Logan asked, slightly breathless after their physical exertion. Maddie just nodded in reply. Now that she was sitting still again, she was regarding the two sides with wide, curious eyes, as if she were trying to unravel them with only her gaze.

“Kiddo, what were you thinking back there?” Patton asked, equally winded. “You could’ve gotten hurt really bad!”

Maddie shrugged.

“Could’ve. Didn’t.”

“But, how did you even…” Patton gulped a breath of air and started over. “I mean, why didn’t they…”

Maddie reached into her dress pocket once more, pulling out a small handful of pebbles.

“You never know when a few of these might come in handy. That first left in the last tunnel? It’s where the sewer continues. The passage we took is one of the entrance tunnels. I always keep a few good skipping stones on me; if you get a good enough toss with one, it sounds like footsteps splashing away.”

Patton stared at her, and Logan inferred that the moral side was trying to decide whether to be upset or impressed.

“How…how many times have you had to do that?” he asked quietly, his eyes wide behind his glasses.

Ah. Upset, then.  

Maddie shrugged again.

“I dunno. A couple here and there. I mean, usually I just pay them and they leave me alone. But…I don’t always manage to scavenge enough money. Of course, a lot of times I don’t even need to go that route.” She pointed behind them, towards the end of the alley where it widened to meet a street. “Through there is the main market square. We’re not too far from the palace, actually. It’s much safer to come that way in the daytime, and during some nights.” She glanced up at the thick black clouds tinged with a few dying rays of sunlight hanging overhead, and frowned. “But not now. Not during the Red Sun.”

Patton blinked, and Logan furrowed his brow.

“The Red Sun?” they asked in unison.

Maddie gaped at them, looking for all the world like a normal child who had just been told that there was no such thing as santa claus.

“I thought the thing with the soldiers was just because…I dunno, you were from a village or something where there aren’t many patrols? I’ve heard about those…” she shook her head, incredulous. “But no, you two don’t know  _anything_ , do you?”

“Well I hardly think t _hat’s_  an accurate statement-” Logan began, flustered, but Patton placed a hand on his forearm and gave him a look that said  _not now, Logan._

“Why don’t you pretend that we’re like, total space aliens and don’t know anything, ok Kiddo?” Patton suggested with a smile, the subtle Doctor Who reference from the moral side being enough to appease Logan’s indignation for the time being. Maddie stared at them, then shrugged again.

“Don’t have to pretend much,” she muttered, before leaning back against her crate. “The Red Sun is  _this_.” She gestured vaguely at their surroundings. “The black storm clouds, the extra guard patrols, the gangs being more vicious…they say outside the city the fields turn brown and there are three times as many monsters. They say the monsters are so vicious that the hunting parties need other monsters to help hunt them down. They say it’s a curse. The whole kingdom falls under it whenever the sun goes red like this. That’s why we call it Red Sun. Everyone is either angry or afraid, or both, and it never stops.”

“But what about the prince?” Patton asked, a barely noticeable tremor to his voice. “Doesn’t he try to fight it?”

Maddie just shook her head.

“Some say the prince can’t fight it, that it’s too powerful. Some say he’s the one who’s cursed, and it affects the whole kingdom. Some say he’s the one who placed the curse. All anyone knows for sure is that he can’t stop it.”

Patton looked over to Logan, his eyes wide. Logan was certain that his own face was wearing a similar expression of concern. How could it not be? 

This had happened before. 

So often that the inhabitants of the dreamscape had a  _name_ for it. How often had Roman retreated into his room when it was in this state? Logan felt a pang of guilt for not noticing before now. There was much that he had always simply assumed. Had he taken the time to ask, to check on Roman more often and make sure all was well, had he been more observant…Logan shook his head. No, there was no use in indulging in these illogical thoughts. What was the past was past. What mattered now was the future.

“Maddie, we’re looking for our friend,” he said carefully. “We believe he was out in the fields before, and that he came into town with a group of riders-”

“Wearing weird dark clothes, with purple hair like yours?” Maddie interrupts, and Patton nods fervently.

“Yeah, that’s him!!!”

“The Prince’s hunting party came back about a half hour before I found you by the gates. They had him slung over the back of one of their horses. Out cold, from what I could tell.”

Patton and Logan exchanged a glance, Patton biting his lower lip and reaching once again to feel Virgil’s headphones in his hoodie pocket. Logan turned to ask Maddie another question, but before he could get the words out, she sat up straight at the sound of something skittering across the cobblestone pavement. She scrambled past them and scooped up a pebble that was still rolling along the ground.

“Seth? Is it you?” she called into the darkness. A pale faced, dirty boy who looked to be a few years Maddie’s senior appeared at the end of the alley.

“Who else would it be?”

“Cut to the chase Seth, I’m busy.”

The boy rolled his eyes, but he nodded and jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

“You know that lazy castle servant I run for?”

“The one who can’t even be bothered to pick up a dozen carrots by himself?”

“That’s the one. He says he’s got work for all of us. Real easy job too, by the looks of it.”

“What’s in it for me?”

“If the job gets done, enough for a hot meal.”

Maddie paused, mulling it over. It was tempting, for sure; her stomach growled just at the thought of having something other than stale bread for breakfast. She turned back, to find Patton smiling at her fondly.

“Go ahead, kiddo. Lo and I need to talk some things over, don’t worry about us.”

She didn’t need to be told twice, and she quietly slipped away after Seth.

“Say, who was talking just now?” the street urchin asked as they wove their way through the empty streets.

“Oh, just some fools who I helped out of a jam with the Arachnids,” she said lightly. Seth let out a bark of laughter.

“One of these days you’re gonna push that gang to far, Maddie. You might wanna find a different campout.”

“Sure, so you can swoop in and take the best spot next to market. Fat chance.”

They rounded the corner and Maddie’s eyes went wide at the sight of over a dozen street kids mulling around a pile of papers.

“This is the deal,” Seth said, worming his way through and grabbing a stack of them. “You take as many as you can carry, and spread them all around your territory. The soldiers won’t bother you while you work. Once you’re out, come see if there are more. If the pile’s gone by sunrise, we all get a hot meal tomorrow. You in?”

Maddie nodded. It seemed simple enough.

“What are the papers for?”

Seth shrugged.

“Wanted posters, I think? Something to do with ending the Red Sun, like that’s ever gonna happen. Hurry up, will ya? My guy seemed kinda antsy, I don’t wanna make him mad by not getting this done.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Maddie agreed, taking a stack and heading off down a random street. She glanced down at the pile of posters in her arms, then froze.

Maddie had lived her whole life on the streets. She couldn’t read more than a few words. But she knew a wanted poster when she saw one. And she knew that when the numbers 1 0 0 0 appeared on a wanted poster, that whoever was in charge meant business about finding that person. One thousand gold pieces would keep someone like her safe and fed for…god, she didn’t even know how long. But she did know the two faces that were staring up at her from the fresh parchment.

And she knew where to find them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It may be awhile until chapter five comes out, I've been updating this on here periodically but all of these chapters were already written and out on my tumblr...from here on out though AO3 and tumblr are caught up to each other with this fic, so I'll be updating them at the same time from now on. The next part of Lost and Found is almost done, so that should be out first, then I'll start working on chapter five of this (which I have all outlined, I just have to write it now). Exciting things ahead! Your guys's comments and support mean a lot, so thank you! <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A confrontation looms on the horizon as tensions rise, and everything is at risk of falling apart at the seams.

Virgil paced back-and-forth in his cell, trying to work off some of his nervous energy. He’d been trying to to calm down for what felt like ages, but his heart was still pounding wildly in his chest. His hood was pulled over his head, and his thumbnail was all but destroyed, but Virgil stuck it back in his mouth anyway. Try as he might, he couldn’t get the image of Roman’s face, twisted with cruelty, out of his head. He ran the situation over and over again in his mind, trying to see it from every angle, to see what went wrong, _what he did wrong._

Virgil shook his head, trying to clear it. No, he couldn’t let this happen. He couldn’t afford to spiral into a never-ending sea of “what if”s and “could have been”s. What mattered was right now. And right now…Virgil sighed in frustration and sat down on the cot in his cell, putting his head in his hands.

Right now he was completely helpless. He was trapped…trapped inside Roman’s mind with no way out. He could feel his panic growing, overtaking his mind, and he clenched his fists, trying to hold it back. If he wanted out of this mess, he couldn’t lose himself now. He took several deep breaths, and had almost managed to calm down when he felt a sudden spike in his anxiety. It was centered in his heart, and he could feel it settling in his chest like a cold metal weight, dragging him down. He knew that feeling, and it wasn’t his.

“Patton,” he whispered to himself, inhaling sharply as the sensation intensified. Patton was anxious. Patton was _afraid_. He had barely processed this when he felt another spike, this time centered at the front of his temples. The headache that manifested was almost blinding in its intensity, and Virgil groaned, placing a hand up to his forehead.

_Logan._

Patton and Logan were in danger; Virgil could sense it. Their fear was palpable, manifesting on his body and making him feel sick. Normally, Virgil didn’t mind his ability to tell when the others were in trouble. It meant he could find them in time to help them. But now, he _really_ wished that he could stay in blissful ignorance. Patton and Logan needed him, and there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t help them, couldn’t _save_ them. All he could do was sit helplessly and feel their panic wash over him, overtaking his senses.

Virgil gasped, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to keep now his _and_ Patton _and_ Logan’s anxiety under control. If he wasn’t careful, this would affect Thomas… his eyes flew open.

_This could affect Thomas._

Virgil took a deep breath, hardly believing that he was even considering this… but he knew in his gut that there was no other way. With one more deep breath, he closed his eyes again, and when he opened them they were glowing purple. For once, Virgil didn’t hold back the anxiety. He didn’t try to channel the panic or the fear away, instead letting it flow outwards, buzzing behind his eyes and at his fingertips.

It had been so long since he’d done this on purpose, he just hoped it would be enough. Hoped that here, in the recesses of Roman’s dreamscape, he could still reach Thomas…and hoped that it wouldn’t do any harm in the long run. He reached out…

And was met with a wall.

_Roman felt a jolt at his desk as a wave of anxiety suddenly coursed through him. He gasped, struggling to process the unfamiliar energy in the proper way. He had never imagined it would be this intense, this **overwhelming.** He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, adjusting to the new sensation. Roman glared, casting his eyes downwards in the general direction of the dungeon. _

_“What are you up to Virgil?” He muttered to himself, crossing his arms. The anxiety hit him again, harder this time, but he grit his teeth and held fast against it._

_“I don’t think so,” he growled through his clenched teeth. “You’re not in charge anymore.”_

Virgil gasped, his eyes flying open. He had never hit a wall like this before, in all of his years of being the channel of Thomas’s anxiety. It was as though something was pushing back against him, keeping the energy from reaching Thomas. He frowned slightly, and then pushed again, a little harder this time. He was again met with a wall, the anxiousness rebounding back into him as though it had never even left. He let out a cry of frustration as Patton’s fear and Logan’s worry combined with his own anxiety, all still present his mind, but being kept from reaching Thomas.

“Roman…” Virgil groaned. “What are you _doing?”_

* * *

Patton and Logan watched Maddie disappear into the darkness, leaving the two of them alone under the girl’s makeshift shelter. Patton sighed and wrapped his arms around himself.

“So…” he began, sounding unsure. “That was…certainly something.”

Logan nodded, grimacing.

“One could say that.”

“I’ve been on adventures with Roman before,” Patton continued, almost to himself. “We’ve been in situations that I would call dangerous. But…” he shook his head. “None of them have ever made me feel quite…like _that_ before.”

“Like what?”

Patton shook his head again.

“I can’t really explain it. But…that felt more _dangerous_ …than other quests. Like, when Roman’s here I know everything will be okay, because this is _his_ world, you know? He’s in control. But now…” Patton looked around, from the hovel they were huddling under, to the deserted alleyway, to the dark, red tinged sky. “I don’t know who…or _what_ is in control anymore.”

Logan nodded in agreement.

“The situation is certainly far from ideal. Though part of me wonders if any of this sneaking around and goading of gangs was even worth the effort. It could be that our best course of action would simply be to go up to a guard and ask to see Roman. Seeing as how we are identical to him, it stands to reason that they would do as we asked.”

Patton frowned, and stared at his lap.

“I don’t know, Logan. I feel just as unsafe around those guards as I did in the sewers with the bandits. This whole thing just…doesn’t feel right.”

“Yes, that is what you said before,” Logan sighed, “And while things do certainly _feel_ unusual, I’m hesitant to place so much stock in feelings alone.”

Patton rolled his eyes.

“Well, that’s because you’re logic. Everything about you is based on facts and figures; you’re not meant to rely on feelings. But _I_ am. Often times morality is based on gut instinct, or what feels like the right thing to do at the time.”

“Yes, I know, Patton, but it still makes me uneasy to base a decision on so little information,” Logan said, running a hand through his hair. Patton nodded in understanding, then offered up a small smile.

“Well, at least we do have more information now, right?”

“Yes, we do,” Logan agreed, though he didn’t sound thrilled about it. “And I must say, the information that we do have is quite disconcerting.”

“For us?” Patton asked, “or for Roman and Virgil?”

“Both,” Logan replied grimly, and an uncomfortable silence fell over the pair. Patton was the first to speak.

“Well, at least we know that Virgil is with Roman now.” Patton sounded as though he was trying his best to sound optimistic, but Logan could hear the lilt in his voice that betrayed his true feelings.

“Yes…” Logan mused, staring out into the empty alley. “But even that is not as comforting as I would like it to be.”

“What do you mean?”

“You heard what Maddie told us. Nobody knows what causes this “Red Sun,” but one of the possibilities is that Roman himself could be the one responsible.”

Patton’s eyes snapped up.

“Another possibility is that Roman isn’t strong enough to fight this, or that he’s the one who’s cursed,” he said slowly, staring at Logan. The logical side sighed, and reached beneath his glasses to rub his eyes.

“Patton, we must at least consider the possibility—”

“No,” Patton interrupted. “I don’t believe it, not for a minute. Roman would never do something like this, and he would _never_ hurt Virgil, I just know it.”

“Perhaps under normal circumstances, but these circumstances are hardly normal now, are they?” Logan insisted. “Not to mention, there _was_ a time when the idea of causing Virgil harm would not have been such an unpleasant one in Romans eyes. He is ruled by his emotions nearly as much as you are, and it’s not exactly a secret how he used to feel.”

Patton fell silent, fiddling with the strings of his hoodie.

“What are you saying, Logan?” he eventually asked, his voice barely audible.

“I don’t know exactly,” Logan admitted. “Just…that we need to be ready for the chance that when we finally meet Roman, he may not be in his normal state of mind.”

Logan stood and began pacing back and forth as he continued to voice his thoughts.

“Think about it; our inner rooms not only have side effects on the other sides that may be in them at the time, but they are a reflection of the owner’s emotions. When you wanted nothing more than to stay in the past, your room was a ‘Nostalgia Nirvana,’ as Thomas called it. I know that in my own room, the environment tends to fluctuate slightly depending on my own mood. Assuming that Roman’s imagination works the same way, it stands to reason that Roman himself is somehow the root of all this.”

“Well even if that is true,” Patton said, still sounding skeptical, “What are we going to do about it?”

“Presumably, Roman took Virgil into the castle. Which means that we must find some way to get there ourselves…one option would be to simply do as I suggested earlier, and confront the guards. _But_ ,” he quickly added, seeing the expression on Patton’s face, “if Roman is indeed responsible for all this, that would not be a particularly wise course of action. It would be prudent to act more covertly until we are certain of Roman’s state of mind…perhaps Maddie knows some way to sneak into the castle.”

“Maddie’s just a kid, Logan,” Patton said with a frown. “Not some…agent who can do whatever you need.”

“She was perfectly able to handle herself with the bandits, if you hadn’t noticed, Patton.”

“Just because she’s able to evade danger sometimes doesn’t mean we can just ask her to place herself in danger _again_ for our sakes.”

“Patton, we have practically no other assets,” Logan argued. “Maddie is not some lost puppy that you can just adopt off the streets, she is a capable individual with valuable skills we could use.”

“You’re right,” Patton argued right back, standing up abruptly. “She’s not a puppy. She’s also not an _asset_. She is a person. A _child,_ Logan.”

Logan could feel his emotions slipping out of his control as the tension rose, but he did his best to bury them under a mask of logic. Now was not the time for losing his cool.

“Need I remind you that we are in Romans dreamscape? None of the people or things here are real. They’re merely figments of Roman’s imagination.

“Just because they’re figments doesn’t mean they aren’t real!” Patton said.

“Patton—”

“After all,” Patton continued, his voice rising, “aren’t we just figments of Thomas’s imagination? And yet _we’re_ still real enough for you, it seems.”

“I — perhaps so, but we serve a function. We make up the whole that is Thomas,” Logan said, attempting to regain control of the conversation.

“Well, how do you know that it’s not the same way for Roman?” Patton shot back. “Nobody really knows how his dreamscape works besides him, if _he_ even fully understands it. People and things here could be just as important to his psyche as we are to Thomas’s.”

“I’m sorry, when did this conversation become a philosophical debate?”

“Last time you _thought_ I brought up philosophy, you were impressed,” Patton said coolly.

Logan felt something twist unpleasantly in his stomach at the memory, but he pushed it away.

“Patton, we don’t have time for this right now,” he tried, but Patton crossed his arms in front of him, determined.

“We can’t afford to just ignore the problems that are here, Logan.”

“Well, what about Virgil?” Logan finally snapped at him. “Can we afford to just ignore him then?”

Patton’s face flushed, and something unreadable flashed in his eyes.

“Don’t do that,” he said quietly. “Don’t you _dare_ do that. Don’t even _imply_ that I — that he doesn’t _matter_ to me.”

“And don’t _you_ insinuate that you are the only person here that cares about him,” Logan said through gritted teeth.

The two of them stood stock still, glaring at each other. Patton’s clenched fists shook at his side as Logan breathed heavily, trying to regain his composure.

“Logan,” Patton finally began, “I think that—”

He was interrupted by the sound of a pebble skittering across the cobblestone ground. The sides looked up to see Maddie, standing at the entrance to the back alley, her face shrouded in shadow. As she approached them, she bent down to scoop up the pebble, sliding it back into her pocket without a word before stopping, standing several feet away from Logan and Patton. The two of them exchanged glances before looking back to her, an unspoken question hanging in the air.

“Maddie?” Patton asked, breaking the silence. Maddie stared at him, her dark eyes boring into his, as if she was searching for some hidden truth behind his glasses.

“Kiddo, what is it?” Patton asked again, and finally, Maddie spoke.

“You need to tell me right now,” she said slowly, “Who are you?”

“What? What do you mean?” Logan asked.

Maddie took a step forwards (though she still kept a distance between them) and held a piece of paper into the candlelight. Patton heard Logan’s sharp intake of breath from beside him, and felt stomach turn over at the sight of _his_ face staring back at him from a poster that read WANTED across the top in large letters…letters that he recognized as Roman’s handwriting.

“They’re making us put them up all over town. Ones of him too,” she added, pointing at Logan. Her eyes darted back and forth as she scanned their faces, looking for their reactions.

“So… _Who are you?_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaah, i’ts done! Things are getting interesting now, and I’m sooo excited! Sorry that this chapter was a bit shorter than the last one, but there’s a lot of big plot stuff coming up and we needed a bit of a break for some good old fashioned character conflict. :)) Thank you all so much for your continued support of this fic, and my other fics, it really means the world! Love you guys! <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maddie must make a choice...and may end up with more trouble than she bargained for.

Patton wished, not for the first time that day, that he was dreaming. His mind was racing, and he found it suddenly very difficult to swallow as he stared at the poster in Maddie’s outstretched hand. He supposed most people would be upset to find their own face plastered onto a wanted poster, but oddly enough, that’s not really what bothered him. It was the handwriting, loping and elegant, yet bold and dramatic and so perfectly  _Roman’s_  that sent Patton’s heart plummeting into his stomach. He swallowed thickly, making a point to avoid looking at Logan. The last thing he wanted to see right now was the  _“I told you so”_  that would likely be flashing in his friend’s eyes.

He couldn’t stare at the poster forever though, so instead he turned his attention back to Maddie, and the expression on her face made his heart ache. Her eyes were narrow as she searched their faces, any semblance of trust they’d built with her gone. She was just a little girl, a  _child_ , she shouldn’t have to lurk in the streets just to survive and wonder if an act of random kindness would cost her everything. She wouldn’t even look so scared right now if it weren’t for them, and Patton felt a wave of guilt wash over him. He sighed, and resisted the urge to close his eyes and curl up into a ball. The last thing he needed was for this to start affecting Thomas on top of everything else.

“Enemies of The Crown...” Logan read aloud, his voice cutting through Patton’s thoughts. “So you are saying that both Patton and I are on these posters you’ve been asked to distribute?”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying,” Maddie replied, shoving the poster into Logan’s hands and quickly taking a step back.

“Kiddo, wait, just...just hang on for a—” Patton stammered out, but Maddie cut him off.

“The two of you come into town out of nowhere, have no idea about curfew or the guards or the Red Sun or  _anything_ , you say the guy I saw get taken to the castle by the soldiers is your friend, and now you’re...you’re Enemies of  _The Crown,_  or something?”

“I...no, we…” Patton struggled to speak, to somehow explain what was happening, but how could he, really?  _He_  barely understood what was happening in Roman’s realm anymore. He desperately wanted to believe that somehow Roman wasn’t responsible for all of this, but the handwriting on the poster was pretty clear. Roman had made that poster. Roman was offering 1,000 gold for Patton’s capture.  _Roman_  had just declared  _Patton_  his enemy. The thought made him feel like throwing up.

“Maddie, do you consider the crown to currently be in a good state?” Logan asked suddenly, catching everyone’s attention. The girl shrugged, still eyeing the two suspiciously.

“I dunno.”

“Well, you spoke of how the kingdom worsens whenever this Red Sun rises. Increased monster activity, more oppression from the government, an increase in traveling dangers, etc. So at its current state, would you say that The Crown is, in fact, a good thing?”

“I mean...I guess not, when you put it that way.”

“So we were declared enemies of something that you’d call bad, something that scares you,” Logan said patiently. “Doesn’t it stand to reason, then, that we would be the opposite?”

Patton glanced over at Logan, a small smile twitching at the edge of his lips. No matter what the situation, Logan always managed to impress him with his ability to assess things with a cool and level head. Patton had barely been able to stop thinking about Roman and what could have caused all of this in the first place, but Logan had been able to focus and give an answer that was simple, but still made sense.

“Yeah…” Maddie’s voice was hesitant, but there was less fear in her eyes now, uncertainty taking its place. “But...I don’t understand? You didn’t even know anything about this place. How could you be its enemy?”  

“It...is a long story,” Logan admitted. “But…” he glanced over at Patton, and Patton nodded at him encouragingly. “Suffice to say that we...Patton and I, that is...we know Prince Roman. So does our friend Virgil, the one who the guards took? The four of us...we are…” he paused, as if searching for the right word to use.

“We’re a family, Kiddo,” Patton supplied quietly. Logan nodded, and Patton’s spirits lifted ever so slightly.

“We are not  _from_  here,” Logan continued. “In fact, Roman himself...well, he created this place. We visit it sometimes, but not enough to know the intricacies of your politics or customs. Certainly, we have never before witnessed this Red Sun you are currently experiencing. And to my knowledge, Roman has never mentioned it, either.”

Logan looked to Patton, as if for confirmation, and Patton nodded. Out of the three of them, he visited Roman’s realm the most often by far, and he’d never once seen it as anything other than a cheerful, sunny paradise. Then again, Roman had never seen  _Patton’s_  room as anything other than the Nostalgia Nirvana that Patton was so careful to present whenever he invited the creative side over...was it that far of a stretch to say that Roman perhaps did the same?

“So...the prince created the whole kingdom? How, with magic?” Maddie asked, tilting her head to the side.

Logan opened his mouth, but Patton answered before he could get too in-depth about the inner workings of Thomas’s mind and Roman’s control over the imagination.

“Something like that, yeah, Kiddo.”

Maddie regarded them for a moment longer, then seemed to come to a decision. 

“Well, if you’re not from here...maybe you should go. It doesn’t seem like he wants you guys around right now.”

“No,” Patton and Logan said in unison.

“We will not leave this place until we retrieve our friend,” Logan added.

“We can’t just leave him behind,” Patton said, glancing over at Logan. There was understanding in his eyes, and Patton felt some of the tension from earlier melt away.

“Get your friend…” Maddie repeated slowly. “From the castle dungeons. The most heavily guarded place in the kingdom, during the Red Sun, when everything is guarded way more than normal.”

Patton grimaced. When she put it that way, their chances of rescuing Virgil didn’t sound very good.

“We have no other choice,” Logan insisted. “Surely there must be some strategy that will grant us the upper hand.”

“Two of you against the entire royal guard during the Red Sun?” Maddie laughed. “There is no  _strategy_  where you would get the upper hand.”

“Falsehood. We just witnessed you face on an entire street gang single-handedly,” Logan pointed out. “Clearly it is not numbers that matter, it is technique.”

“I...all I did was throw a few rocks and run away.” Maddie fiddled with the pouch on her dress, running her fingers over the smooth pebbles she kept inside. “I’m honestly lucky they haven’t caught me yet.”

“Perhaps, though I would attribute it to a high level of experience and skill,”  Logan said matter-of-factly.

Maddie looked down at her feet, a shy but satisfied smile spreading across her face.

“I am serious,” Logan continued. “You were quite impressive in your methods. And between the three of us, I’m sure we can figure out a way. That is…” he hesitated, and looked over at Patton. After a moment, Patton nodded to him, and Logan turned back to Maddie. “That is, if you’re willing to assist us.”

“It’s your choice, Kiddo,” Patton added quickly. “It’s okay if you say no. But...well, like we said, Lo and I don’t really know a whole lot about this place.”

Maddie was silent for what seemed like forever, seconds stretching out as Patton waited with bated breath for her to answer. He glanced over at Logan, who was fiddling with his glasses. To an outsider, it was a seemingly innocent gesture, but Patton knew it meant Logan was also unsure. What would they do if Maddie said no? What if she decided to turn them in instead? What if–

“All…alright.”

Patton blinked. Had he heard her right?

“I’ll help you,” she added, and Patton released a breath. He looked over at Logan, who was clearly very pleased by her answer.

“Let’s do this, then,” Logan said, and Maddie gave a small nod.

Then, the three of them sat down in a circle and began to plan.

 

* * *

 

Maddie skirted the edge of the market square, nibbling on a warm roll she’d purchased with the few coins the castle steward’s errand boy had thrown her way. It hadn’t been much, certainly not a fair amount for an entire night’s work, but it was still the first time she’d had fresh food in days.

“Outta the way, you damned urchin!”

Maddie ducked away to one side, narrowly avoiding a collision with the large, gruff man shoving his way through the crowd. It was early in the morning, and people were packed into the main market square, buying their breakfast and beginning their work for the day. Maddie was no stranger to the crowds; she was fairly used to being in the square when it was this busy. In fact, it was usually the best time to find dropped coins, scraps of food, or if she was lucky, a kind matronly woman who would offer to buy her a biscuit, or an overworked apprentice who would happily shell out a few copper coins in order to have someone else run their errand while they caught a few more minutes of sleep.

But this was no ordinary morning in the square; this was a morning during the Red Sun. People all over the kingdom had opened their eyes at dawn, hoping to see a hint of golden light peeking through the clouds, only to be greeted by another day bathed in crimson and shadow. Shoulders were hunched, conversations were deprived of their usual cheerful small talk, and eyes were focused on the ground as people hurried about their day, doing their best to avoid looking up.

Maddie worked her way through the crowd, slipping past vendors and shoppers alike, keeping her eyes peeled. Usually, she would be scanning the ground, looking for anything worth scavenging, but today, her head was up, looking through the sea of legs for the flash of a familiar face in the crowd. Seth would be here soon for the morning rush. He was always one of the first to arrive, but Maddie beat him nearly every morning. It was the advantage of having a spot so close to the market, something she’d fought tooth and nail to keep. Something that, apparently, she was now willing to give up.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, she spotted him as he flashed through the crowd, his dirty face and unkempt mop of blond hair catching her eye. She wove her way towards him, ducking between legs and around stalls, reaching for a pebble from her pouch as she did so. Pressing her back up against a fruit stand, she waited until he paused to check for something on the ground before flicking the stone in his direction. It rolled to a stop in front of his feet, and his eyes snapped up, scanning his surroundings. His gaze fell on Maddie, and she tilted her head towards an alleyway before sliding into its shadows herself.

“Maddie?” he hissed as he edged in, looking around carefully. “What do you want?”

“Your pet castle servant. Where does he meet you?”

“I...what?”

“Where does he meet you?” Maddie repeated urgently. “Is it in town, or one of the servants’ entrances?”

Seth narrowed his eyes.

“What’s it to you?” he asked, and Maddie sighed, running a hand over her face.

“Seth, just listen, I don’t have time for this. Do you or do you not know where the servants’ entrance to the castle is?”

“I- yes I know where it is, Maddie, why the  _hell_  are you asking?”   
  
“I need to know where it is. Can you show me?” Maddie pressed.

“Wait…” Seth leaned back and folded his arms, a knowing look on his face. “I know what this is about.”

“You...you do?”

“Yeah. You’re trying to make a cut into my errand earnings, aren’t you?”

Maddie groaned.

“No, Seth, I-”

“It’s not enough that you have the best spot next to the market, you want to try and sneak one of the more reliable jobs right from under my-”

“Seth, if you show me where the servants’ entrance is I will GIVE you my spot by the market, okay?”

Silence hung in the air between them, Seth staring open-mouthed at Maddie as he processed what she had just said.

“You...you’ll  _give_  me the spot?”

“Yes. All you have to do is show me where the servants’ entrance is.”

Seth thought about it. The work from the castle servant already provided him with more money than most, that combined with Maddie’s spot in the alleyway, close to the market and hidden from the gangs...it’d be the closest thing to security he’d get while living on the streets. Hell, if he played his cards right, he might be able to eventually get  _off_  the streets.  It was a good deal.

Seth frowned, eyeing Maddie with a renewed suspicion. It was almost  _too_  good a deal.

“What’s the catch? And don’t you  _dare_  say there isn’t one, there’s no way you’d offer a deal like this if there wasn’t a damn good reason.”

Maddie rolled her eyes.

“The only catch is on my end. If what I have planned works, it will have been worth it for me to give it to you. If it doesn’t, that’s my problem, not yours. You have nothing to lose here”

Seth mulled it over for a moment longer, then nodded.

“Okay then, you have yourself...a…” His sentence stuttered to a stop and his eyes went wide as he stared at something over Maddie’s shoulder.

“Wha-” Maddie started to speak, but was cut off as a huge pair of arms wrapped around her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides and lifting her off her feet. “What the- hey! Put me down, you big- mmph!”

The arms shifted and a large, sweaty hand clamped over her mouth, effectively silencing her.

“Run along now, if you know what’s good for you,” a familiar voice purred behind her. Maddie saw Seth bolt for the market square as her assailant carried her deeper into the alley, away from the prying eyes of the early morning shoppers “Now then…”

The leader of the Arachnids came around to face her with a grin, absently twirling his knife between his fingers. Maddie squirmed, but the grip of the thug holding her only tightened, constricting her breathing as he kept his hand pressed firmly against her mouth.

“You owe us, little fly, and it’s time to pay up.”

Maddie silently cursed herself for not thinking of saving some coins to pay the Arachnids with. A foolish mistake, which didn’t happen often to her, but then again, it only needed to happen once, right?

The hand over her mouth moved until it wrapped around her neck, the thumb and forefinger pressing just a bit too tightly her windpipe. Maddie’s heart pounded against her ribcage, and she fought the sudden impulse to swallow. The message was clear:  _You can talk, but scream or call for help and you’ll regret it._

“I don’t have money,” she said as clearly as she could manage.

“Oh, that’s alright.” A grin spread across the bandit leader’s face, and he held up one of the wanted posters with Logan’s face on it. “You have something better, don’t you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo boy, what a wild ride that chapter was to write! I’ve been insanely busy in my personal life, and have had major writers block on this story, so I’m so happy to finally have the next installment out .Thank you all so much for your patience on this fic, I hope you enjoyed the other fics I posted in the meantime between updates! Hopefully next time it won’t be 5 months between updates, haha. Thank you all so much for your comments and kudos, they really mean the world to me!  
> -Taylor <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan and Patton are prepared to storm the castle to rescue Virgil from Roman…but is Logan prepared for what could happen if they fail?

“Alright, let’s go over the plan one more time.”

Logan and Patton sat on the ground across from each other, studying the diagrams that Logan had drawn up in his small pocket notebook.

“Maddie’s friend leads us to the castle’s servant entrance just before dark, which we use to sneak into the castle,” Patton recited dutifully, and Logan nodded.

“Excellent. It is likely that either at the entrance itself or shortly after we’ve entered, it will be necessary to employ a diversion in order to avoid capture. When this occurs, Maddie and I will serve as the diversion while you quickly make your way to the dungeons, which is presumably where Virgil is being held.”

“I get Virgil out, then we all leave back through the servant’s entrance,” Patton continued. “Once we’re all out and regroup, we find out what Virgil knows and see what we can do about Roman.”

“And if we are unable to retrieve Virgil and are forced to retreat without him?” Logan pressed.

Patton frowned, but answered,

“We escape the city, forcing Roman to leave the castle to look for us. We’ll have a better chance against him in open terrain than we will here in town.” Patton sighed, and fiddled with the hems of his hoodie sleeves in a way that very much reminded Logan of Virgil. “I can’t say that I like plan B very much,” he admitted.

“Well technically, it is plan C, as plan A was my suggestion of simply turning ourselves in to the guards,” Logan pointed out. “Though in hindsight, simply letting ourselves be captured was a poor plan A. Which makes plan  _B_  sneak into the castle for Virgil, and plan  _C_  escape the city without him.”

“I don’t like any of the plans,” Patton said, casting a glance in the direction of the castle. “It feels wrong, to be plotting against Roman like this. Even if it  _is_  to get Virgil back.”

“Agreed,” Logan said, grimacing down at his notebook again. “None of the situations are ideal, that is certain. I highly dislike making any sort of plan with so little information to go off of, but this is the best we can do, I’m afraid.”

Patton nodded, then offered Logan a lopsided smile.

“Still, we did our best, that’s what’s important. And for what it’s worth, Lo…”

Logan looked up into Patton’s eyes, and was surprised by the gentle fondness in his gaze.

“I think you did a really good job with it. Way better than I could have done. To be honest, I...I think I’d be a bit lost if I was here by myself.”

Logan’s cheeks grew warm, and he tried to come up with a response that would be suitable, that would convey to Patton every confusing feeling that was worming around in his chest and explain everything perfectly, like he always did.

But before Logan could find the words, the softness in Patton’s eyes drained away, replaced by a startled fear. Logan spun around, and for a moment, he swore his heart stopped beating in his chest.

The first thing that he noticed was the gang of thugs that blocked the entrance to the alleyway, effectively cutting off any chance he and Patton had of running. The second thing he noticed was the large goon in the middle, who had his arms wrapped around a small, familiar form. Maddie’s eyes were wide with fear, and as her gaze locked onto his, Logan felt something in his gut clench.

“Well well well,” a greasy voice cooed, and the familiar, scraggly form of the bandit from the sewers emerged from the group. “Lookie what we have here.”

Logan made a move to stand, but the bandit wagged his finger as one would at a small child who had just taken a cookie before dinner.

“Ah ah ah,” he tutted. “I’d be careful if I were you. You see, my good friend Tiny here gets startled easily, the poor thing. And he doesn’t always quite know his own strength.”

The thug holding Maddie (the name Tiny meant to be ironic, presumably) adjusted his grip so that one arm was wrapped around the girl’s neck in a choke hold.

“I’d hate for you to spook him and make him squeeze too hard,” the leader continued, and Logan saw Patton’s fists clench out of the corner of his eye.

“You’ve made your point,” Logan growled. “What do you want?”

“Oh, that’s easy, my little flies.” The bandit held up one of the reward posters, a triumphant grin on his face. “We want you.”

At a snap of the leader’s fingers, Logan and Patton were yanked to their feet, their wrists bound with rope before they were dragged forward.

“Okay!” the leader chirped happily, patting each of the sides’ cheeks before spinning on his heel and walking through the gang of thugs as confidently as a king walks through his court. “To the castle!”

Logan glanced over at Patton, who shot him a worried look in response.

_This had not been the plan._

* * *

"Sir!”

The steward glanced up from his desk, annoyance clouding his features.

“I told you, no disturbances unless–”

“We found them, sir. The ones the prince seeks, somebody has captured them. They’re outside the main gate.”

The steward stood up, his work forgotten in an instant.

“Show me.”

* * *

Virgil gasped in pain, the cell spinning around him as another wave of panic rolled over him. At some point in the last few minutes, he’d fallen off the cot, and was now lying in the fetal position on the floor, trying desperately to breathe. His head pounded, his stomach churned, and every cell in his body screamed  _DANGER!_  Purple sparks danced around his eyes, shooting from his fingertips and he cried out as the energy pouring out of him hit the invisible wall over and over again, rebounding back into him.

Logan and Patton were in trouble again, their fear and worry building off his own, but the energy still had nowhere to go. It was no longer a question of channeling it intentionally or not, there was simply too much for Virgil to contain within himself.

**“Stop!”**  he cried out as another wave of energy hit him. His skull felt like it was going to split in two, and he curled in on himself, pressing his hands against his temples.  **“Make it stop, make it stop, _make it STOP_ …”**

* * *

Roman was writing, his pen flying across the page in a burst of inspiration when the wave hit him. He let out a startled cry, his pen dropping to the ground and rolling across the rich carpet of his royal study. He brought his hands up to his head, trying to block the sudden thoughts that filled his mind, but they were overwhelming.

_Danger, danger, you have to run, you have to get out, you have to fight, keep them safe, danger, **danger, DANGER!**_

The energy built up all around him, and as sparks of purple crackled in the corner of his vision, he knew he wouldn’t be able to maintain all of it. No, some of it would have to be channeled away.

“Damn it” Roman grunted as he struggled to harness the power. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror on the opposite wall, and was unsurprised to see that dark eyeshadow had cropped up under his eyes. “Virgil, you and I are going to have  _words_  later,” he hissed, gasping in pain as he struggled to maintain control of the energy coursing through him.

He closed his eyes, focusing every ounce of his concentration on the anxiety, and sent as much as he dared flowing out from the mindscape.

He sighed, slumping in relief as the intensity eased.

“Alright, that’s enough of that,” he muttered before picking up his pen and turning his attention back to his work. A little anxiety wasn’t going to stand between him and what could his best idea  _ever_.

* * *

 

_“Oh what’s even the point, this script is so brilliant that no one will understand it, I should just stop trying, why waste all this energy on something that nobody will accept?”_

Thomas frowned. That had been an unusual thought. It didn’t match his usual misgivings about creating, though it carried the same finger drumming, stomach twisting feeling that usually accompanied his anxious thoughts. Then, almost as soon as he’d had the thought, it was gone, along with the feeling of unease. Thomas thought about calling up Virgil to ask him about it, but then his eyes drifted back towards his laptop, the open word document for the script he was working on staring back at him.

Making a mental note to ask Virgil about it later, Thomas went back to work. A little anxiety wasn’t going to stand between him and what could be his best idea  _ever_.

* * *

 

Patton was doing his best to stay calm. It was hard, if he was honest with himself, between the bandits, the soldiers, the still not knowing if Virgil was okay, the  _everything_ , really, but then Patton glanced over at Logan. The logical side caught his eye, and Patton gave him an encouraging smile. Logan was okay, and the two of them were still together. Patton knew that things would be okay, if Logan was there. Logan was brilliant, and Patton knew there wasn’t a problem in the world he couldn’t solve. He’d solve this one too, and somehow, everyone would make it out of Roman’s realm okay.

“Presenting, the prince’s steward,” an voice called, pulling Patton out of his thoughts.

He looked up to see a man dressed in fine clothing approaching them, being led by the guard who had rushed into the castle to make a report when the gang had showed up at the front gate with Logan and Patton in tow.

“Is this them?” the steward asked as he approached, and the bandit leader bowed.

“It is, m’lord,” he replied, his voice as silky smooth as he could manage.

The steward frowned, his eyes running over Patton and Logan’s faces, before he turned to the bandit leader with a stiff nod.

“Very well. Hand them over, we’ll take it from here.”

Patton tensed up, bracing himself to be roughly transferred between guards, but instead the bandit leader just chuckled.

“Hand over their bounty first, then they’re all yours.”

The steward narrowed his eyes, and Patton’s admittedly already bad feeling took a turn for the worse.

“It is not everyday that the leader of the Arachnids makes himself so vulnerable,”the steward spat. “It would be reward enough for me to spare you and your gang the gallows.”

The leader of the gang growled suddenly and reached forward, grabbing Patton’s hair and yanking his head back. Patton yelped in pain, but fell silent as the bandit pressed his knife up against his throat. Logan cried out, and Patton saw a thug clamp his hand over the struggling logical side’s mouth out of the corner of his eye. He wanted to call out to Logan, tell him that he was fine, but he didn’t dare speak. He barely dared to even breathe as the cold blade rested against his neck.

“Try and cheat me,” the bandit hissed, his breath hot on Patton’s skin, “and you’ll find yourself with no prize to give your prince. Those posters said ‘reward for their  _capture_.’ That means that whatever Princey wants them for, they gotta be  _alive_. And I know you wouldn’t want to disappoint your prince.” He sneered at the steward, and jerked his head up at the sky. “Especially not now,” he added.

The steward’s eyes flicked upwards at the red-tinged clouds above them before returning to meet the bandit’s gaze. For a terrifying moment, nobody moved. Then, the steward sighed, and nodded.

“You are right,” he conceded, and to Patton’s relief, the grip on his hair lessened ever so slightly. “I would not. Guard, fetch me–”

But whatever the steward wanted fetched, he never said. Instead, the clouds above them suddenly crackled to life, purple bolts of lightning shooting out in all directions. The world around them stuttered, and for a moment, Patton swore he could see the walls of Roman’s bedroom flash in and out of existence around them.

None of that mattered that much to Patton though, what  _mattered_  was that everyone around him besides Logan was flickering  _with_  the world...and it didn’t seem to be a pleasant experience. Some of the people were on the ground, others were still standing but curling in on themselves, covering their eyes and ears against some unseen, unheard horror.

Patton didn’t think, he just moved, twisting easily out of his thug’s grip and dashing towards Logan, who looked to be in a state of stunned shock.

“I...wh-what…” he stammered, looking around him in awe, but Patton pulled on his sleeve as best he could with his bound hands.

“Logan! We have to go!” he cried, and at the sound of Patton’s voice, Logan’s eyes came back into focus, hardening in determination when they landed on Patton’s face.

He nodded, and the two of them turned and began to run away from the castle.

“Oh!” Patton cried, skidding to a halt as they ran past Maddie.

The thug holding her had dropped to his knees, and she was trying desperately to crawl away from the crowd. She was flickering in and out just like the others, but when Patton tried to grab her arm, it stayed solid under his grip and he began to run again, pulling her along with him.

“Hurry!” Logan called from ahead of them, and Patton nodded, willing himself to move faster. While most of the guards were as incapacitated as everyone else, a few had definitely noticed the sides’ escape and were trying to force themselves to follow.

Then, as soon as it had begun, the lightning stopped and the world around them settled back into its normal state. Shouts came from behind them, and Patton knew that their head start was about to be over.

“Are you good?” he asked Maddie, breathlessly.

“Yes,” she panted back, and he let go of the small girl’s arm. Patton watched her run, watched Logan run ahead of her, then turned and glanced behind him.

He wished he hadn’t.

Two palace guards were right on his heels, and he could see more behind them. They wouldn’t be able to outrun them forever. They’d be overtaken, they’d end up right back where they started, they’d end up…

Patton thought about the lightning that had lit up the sky and split the world, how it’d been tinted, not red, like the rest of the sky, but  _purple_. Broken headphones jostled in his pocket as he ran, and he looked ahead to where Logan was running. Logan, who was so smart, who could do anything if he really thought about it. Logan who made everything okay.

“Maddie,” he gasped, and the girl glanced back at him. “We-we have to split up,” he panted. “They’ll catch us otherwise. Can-can you, can you get Logan somewhere hidden? Lose them in the alleys?”

She scanned the streets ahead of them, then nodded.

“Yes. What about–”

“I’m gonna keep running,” he said, smiling as best he could at her. “Give them something to, to chase.”

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head.

“They’ll catch you!” she hissed, but Patton just let out a raspy laugh.

“It’s okay,” he promised. “Tell Lo that it’s, it’s plan A. Okay? Tell him, then tell him he needs plan C. Please Maddie, it’s the only way.”

Maddie stared at him, and Patton silently hoped that this child that he had decided to entrust with all their fates would trust him back. For a moment that felt more like an eternity, there was nothing but the pounding of feet against cobblestone and the shouts of the soldiers. Then Maddie nodded once, and Patton sighed in relief. She picked up her pace, catching up to Logan and pulling on his arm. Patton caught the words  _“hide”_  and  _“follow”_  before the two of them veered off into an alleyway, out of sight.

Patton managed to turn two more corners of the main street before the guards caught him, pinning him to the ground and surrounding him. As he was hauled back to his feet, spears pointed at him from every angle, he knew that this time, escape wouldn’t come so easily.

As if to confirm this, something hit him on the back of the head, and as he felt himself slipping into darkness, one thought stayed cemented in his mind.

_I’m counting on you, Logan._

* * *

 

Logan had lost track of the number of alleys Maddie had him duck through, but so, he supposed, had their pursuers, as Logan could no longer hear the stampeding of feet from behind that signaled that the guards had their trail.

“Here,” Maddie said, coming to a stop and slipping into a cranny in the wall of yet another back alley. “We should be able to rest here for a minute.”

Logan nodded, bending over and resting his hands on his knees. He glanced over his shoulder...and froze.

“Maddie,” he said, doing his best to keep his voice even so as not to frighten her. “We’re missing Patton.”

She turned around, and gave Logan a strange look.

“You didn’t know?”  

“No!” Logan exclaimed, all pretenses of being calm gone in an instant. “Of course I didn’t know! Did  _you_  know?”

“Shhh!” Maddie hissed, looking over Logan’s shoulder. “Do you want them to find us?”

“Maddie…” Logan took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose, before running his hands through his hair. “I need you to tell me  _exactly_  when you last saw Patton.”

The girl took a step back, holding up her hands.

“I told him they’d catch him! But he didn’t care! He said we had to separate, that you and I had to hide, and not to worry about him. Said that it was ‘plan A’ or something like that.”

“He...he what?” Logan whispered, his eyes wide.

“He said it was ‘plan A,’ and that you needed ‘plan C.’ I figured you knew about it.”

“Oh my…” Logan sank to the ground and put his head in his hands. “That...that  _idiot_. That absolute...how could he be so foolish, I…”

“Um, Logan?”

“Of course he would do something like this though, of  _course_  he would...but what does he expect me to  _do_ , I...I don’t know…” Logan sighed and pulled his glasses off so he could rub his eyes. “I...don’t know how to do this alone,” he whispered.

“You’re not very good with your emotions, are you?” Maddie interjected, and Logan let out a hollow laugh.

“No, I guess I am not. You have my apologies for losing composure, this whole situation has me rather...ah, rattled, as it were.”  

Maddie shrugged, and after giving one last glance around the alley, sat down on the ground next to him.

“It’s whatever. Just...you  _do_  know what to do now, don’t you?” She scooted closer when Logan didn’t answer and peered up at him. “What’s ‘plan A’ and ‘plan C’ about, anyway?”

“Plan C refers to the backup strategy we had if retrieving Virgil from the castle did not prove successful.”

“The one where we get out of the city?” Maddie asked, and Logan nodded. “So what’s ‘plan A’ then?”

Logan squinted up at the sky, as if he could simply turn the Red Sun back to normal with the force of his glare alone.

“Plan A was my initial suggestion of handing ourselves over to Roman directly.”

_“What?”_  Maddie exclaimed, and Logan nodded grimly. “That’s a terrible plan!”

“I am aware, Maddie,” Logan said, rolling his eyes. “That is why we were so quick to discard it.”

Maddie rested her chin on her fist, and stared out into the alley.

“But now it’s exactly what Patton’s doing.”

“I…I can’t get  _both_  of them out of there by myself,” Logan muttered, more to himself than to Maddie. “What...what am I going to  _do_  now?”

“Well…” Maddie said slowly. “Are you  _sure_  you can’t get them out yourself?”

“Yes,” Logan sighed. “Our chances of getting Virgil out were slim before, and that was before we even got caught. Now the entire palace will be high alert looking for me, as I am...as I am the last one Roman needs to collect.”

“What does he even need you guys  _for?_ ” Maddie asked, and Logan shook his head.

“I wish I knew,” he grumbled, then he stood and began pacing around the alcove they were tucked away in.

“So...do what Patton said?” Maddie suggested, her dark eyes following Logan’s movements. “Plan C?”

“Plan C was supposed to allow us to regroup and find some way to change the playing field. I cannot regroup with Patton if he’s been  _captured._  We are hopelessly outnumbered, I…”

“How were you going to win before then? You were already outnumbered, weren’t you?” Maddie interrupted.

“I, yes, but-”

“So why did you think you had a chance? You seemed so sure when Patton was here.”

_That’s what Patton does,_  Logan thought.  _He somehow makes the impossible seem doable, the universe attainable. He believes in you with so much fervor that you can’t help believe in yourself as well_.

“I...they weren’t on alert then,” Logan stammered out instead. “With the right execution of stealth and misdirection, the two of us stood a chance. Now...now they have him, and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. This is Roman’s territory, his playing field. I cannot hope to beat him here.”

Maddie was silent for a moment, and Logan traced the cracked cobblestone beneath him in defeat.

“What’s your playing field then?” she asked, and Logan’s eyes snapped up to meet hers.

“W-what?”

“If you can’t beat the prince on his playing field, then maybe you can beat him on yours?”

“My playing field…” Logan mused.

His playing field was that of facts and figures, schedules and deadlines, trivia games and debates. All things that were so, so important to him, yet seemed so small and meaningless in this fantasy world of Roman’s design. True, being in the mindscape, the two of them were more evenly matched, but here in the imagination? Roman clearly had the upper hand. What good was being able to beat Roman at a rap battle or a game of chess if Logan was trapped here with–”

“Wait…”

Maddie perked up, and leaned forward to stare into Logan’s eyes.

“What! Did you think of something?”

“Perhaps…” Logan pressed his fingertips together, and inhaled deeply through his nose.

Chess...if he tried to approach this problem the way he would a difficult chess scenario, could he find a solution?

“If we treat Roman as a proverbial king in this scenario, and all the soldiers as the pawns protecting him, then we have two options before us.”

Maddie tilted her head in confusion.

“Isn’t Roman a prince, not a–”

“Those options are to eliminate the pawns to leave the king unprotected, an option not available in this situation as we are by no means strong enough to do so, or draw the pawns away, leaving a path open for another piece to take the king.”

“Um...okay?”

“Though this particular scenario is unusual, as the primary goal is not to capture the king, per say, but to  _recapture_  already taken pieces...something not permitted by the ordinary rules, but this is no ordinary situation. Perhaps it would even be more accurate to call Roman the queen piece rather than the king.”

“Okay,” Maddie sighed, rubbing a hand over her face. “I’m going to assume that what you’re saying makes perfect sense to somebody as smart as you. It really doesn’t matter to me, as long as it means you have an idea now, right?”

Logan nodded, and adjusted his glasses as he spoke.

“I believe so. The beginnings of an idea, at least. We must find some way to draw all of the guards away from the castle. Even better if Roman himself leaves. If they are all preoccupied, then we stand a better chance of mounting a rescue operation.”

“Well...what on earth could draw every soldier away from their post?”

“In my defense, that is why this is only the  _beginnings_  of an idea,” Logan admitted. “It would take a feat greater than we are capable of producing on our own to have a chance at success. A piece either so enticing or dangerous that the opponent has no choice but to respond. What could be so pressing that Roman couldn’t refuse to...face...it...” Logan trailed off, his eyes widening as an idea came to him.

Something that would occupy all of the guards, draw Roman’s attention away, and give Logan a chance to break into the castle all rolled into one. Something so big that Roman could simply  _never_  ignore it. Was Logan crazy for even considering the notion? Probably, but at this point, he was too desperate to care.

“Logan?” Maddie asked, and Logan could hear the worry in her voice. “What is it?”

“I...have an idea,” he said, turning to her. “But you might not like it. In fact, I am certain that you will not; you may even hate it, and I understand if you don’t want to help me anymore after I tell you, but I–”

“What is it?”

Logan grimaced.

“Tell me...what do you know of the Dragon Witch?”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your patience with this fic! I know it's been ages since I've updated, but if you haven't noticed, I kind of have trouble staying focused on one WIP at a time, haha. Nonetheless, I'm going to try and be better at updating this at least a LITTLE more consistently. I am SUPER excited for the next chapter, everything that I’ve been leading up to with this fic is about to go down, so definitely stay tuned!


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